Data from: A DNA barcode library for North American Pyraustinae (Lepidoptera: Pyraloidea: Crambidae)

Although members of the crambid subfamily Pyraustinae are frequently
important crop pests, their identification is often difficult because many
species lack conspicuous diagnostic morphological characters. DNA
barcoding employs sequence diversity in a short standardized gene region
to facilitate specimen identifications and species discovery. This study
provides a DNA barcode reference library for North American pyraustines
based upon the analysis of 1589 sequences recovered from 137 nominal
species, 87% of the fauna. Data from 125 species were barcode compliant
(>500bp, <1% n), and 99 of these taxa formed a distinct
cluster that was assigned to a single BIN. The other 26 species were
assigned to 56 BINs, reflecting frequent cases of deep intraspecific
sequence divergence and a few instances of barcode sharing, creating a
total of 155 BINs. Two systems for OTU designation, ABGD and BIN, were
examined to check the correspondence between current taxonomy and sequence
clusters. The BIN system performed better than ABGD in delimiting closely
related species, while OTU counts with ABGD were influenced by the value
employed for relative gap width. Different species with low or no
interspecific divergence may represent cases of unrecognized synonymy,
whereas those with high intraspecific divergence require further taxonomic
scrutiny as they may involve cryptic diversity. The barcode library
developed in this study will also help to advance understanding of
relationships among species of Pyraustinae.