Spider hosts (Arachnida, Araneae) and wasp parasitoids (Insecta, Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ephialtini) matched using DNA barcodes

The study of parasitoids and their hosts suffers from a lack of reliable taxonomic data. We use a combination of morphological characters and DNA sequences to produce taxonomic determinations that can be verified with reference to specimens in an accessible collection and DNA barcode sequences posted to the Barcode of Life database (BOLD). We demonstrate that DNA can be successfully extracted from consumed host spiders and the shed pupal case of a wasp using non-destructive methods. We found Acrodactyla quadrisculpta to be a parasitoid of Tetragnatha montana; Zatypota percontatoria and Z. bohemani both are parasitoids of Neottiura bimaculata. Zatypota anomala is a parasitoid of an as yet unidentified host in the family Dictynidae, but the host species may be possible to identify in the future as the library of reference sequences on BOLD continues to grow. The study of parasitoids and their hosts traditionally requires specialized knowledge and techniques, and accumulating data is a slow process. DNA barcoding could allow more professional and amateur naturalists to contribute data to this field of study. A publication venue dedicated to aggregating datasets of all sizes online is well suited to this model of distributed science.

对寄生蜂及其宿主的 研究 受限于可靠的分类数据。本研究结合形态学特征和DNA序列，生成可验证的分类鉴定结果，验证依据为可获取的标本集以及发布于生命条码数据库（BOLD）中的DNA条码序列。本研究证实，采用无损方法可成功从已消耗的宿主蜘蛛和寄生蜂蜕皮幼虫外壳中提取DNA。研究发现，Acrodactyla quadrisculpta 是Tetragnatha montana的寄生蜂；Zatypota percontatoria 和Z. bohemani 均为Neottiura bimaculata的寄生蜂。Zatypota anomala 为尚未确定宿主的Dictynidae科寄生蜂，但随着BOLD上参考序列库的不断扩充，未来可能识别出宿主物种。传统上，对寄生蜂及其宿主的研究需要专门的学识和技术，数据的积累是一个缓慢的过程。DNA条码技术或许能促使更多专业和业余的自然学家为此研究领域贡献数据。一个专门用于在线汇聚各类规模数据集的出版物，非常适合这种分布式科学模式。