Data from: Molecular identification of cryptic bumblebee species from degraded samples using PCR-RFLP approach

The worldwide decline and local extinctions of bumblebees has raised a
need for fast and accurate tools for species identification. Morphological
characters are often not sufficient and molecular methods have been
increasingly used for reliable identification of bumblebee species.
Molecular methods often require high quality DNA which makes them less
suitable for analysis of low quality or older samples. We developed an
efficient PCR-RFLP identification method for four bumblebee species of the
subgenus Bombus s. str. (B. lucorum, B. terrestris, B. magnus, B.
cryptarum) from degraded samples using a partial mitochondrial COI
fragment (446 bp) and three diagnostic restriction enzymes (Hinf I, Hae
III, Hinc II). This approach allowed us to efficiently determine the
correct species from all degraded DNA samples while only a subset of
samples 64.6% (31 out of 48) resulted in successful amplification of a
longer COI fragment (1064 bp) using the previously described method. This
protocol can be applied for conservation and management of bumblebees
within this subgenus and is especially useful for fast species
identification from degraded samples.