DNA barcoding of the fire ant genus Solenopsis Westwood (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Riyadh region, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

ABSTRACT: The ant genus Solenopsis Westwood, 1840 is the largest in Myrmicinae subfamily having almost 200 described species worldwide. They are commonly distributed in the tropics and temperate areas of the world. Some invasive Solenopsis species are very dreadful. We have already reported a fire ant species, Solenopsis saudiensis Sharaf & Aldawood, 2011, identified using traditional morphometric approaches of species identification. Present study was carried out to develop DNA Barcoding to identify Solenopsis saudiensis and to elucidate genetic structure of the various S. saudiensis populations across their distribution range in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The comparison of DNA barcodes showed no genetic diversity among six populations and a queen from S. saudiensis analyzed from the Riyadh region. This

SUBMITTER: Rasool KG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6933196 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature