Insects are the most abundant animals on Earth, and yet we know so little about them, in fact we are still discovering new species. Researchers from the University of Auckland have used a new approach to identify new species; DNA sequencing.

March 08, 2019

Traditional approaches to identifying new species of insects requires the close examination of individual specimens by an expert taxonomist. This approach takes time and expertise and makes it difficult to examine large numbers of insects. Researchers in New Zealand have recently conducted an ecosystem-wide DNA-based survey of land-based insects on the island of Hauturu, and have sequenced the DNA of the insects they captured. This study resulted in the identification of new species and added over 2500 new DNA sequences to the GenBank database. This vast expansion of the number of insect genomes available will be a valuable resource for researchers in biological fields.

Source: Science Daily