Diversity of <i>Rhyacophila</i> (Trichoptera, Rhyacophilidae) in the Hengduan Mountains.

ABSTRACT: Aquatic insects are particularly dependent on environmental conditions because their life cycles are directly linked to physico-chemical conditions in freshwater habitats. Here, we combine DNA barcoding and ecological analysis to determine general distributional patterns for an unknown fauna of Rhyacophila (Trichoptera, Rhyacophilidae) in the Hengduan Mountains in China. In total 415 larval and 109 adult specimens from four major Hengduan Mountain river basins (1022 m - 4381 m a.s.l.) were sequenced and analyzed. Molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) were delimited as putative species analogs. MOTUs were derived from mitochondrial COI (mtCOI) and nuclear wingless (nuWG) data using the tree-based GMYC method. As expected, based on a higher mutation rate, mtCOI delimitation re

SUBMITTER: Gerwin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12712619 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature