26 November 2024

BGE’ First Scientific Publication: Water Mites!

The first scientific paper from the Biodiversity Genomics Europe project comes with a big landmark attached to it: the identification of several species new to the water mite fauna in Portugal, including two species described as new to world science. Our colleagues Elisabeth Stur (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and Sonia Ferreira (Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resouces CIBIO-InBIO) collaborated with water mite specialist Vladimir Pešić (University of Montenegro) on this new discovery, and tell us more in this video.

 

The identification of the new species is a step forward in BGE’s endeavour to build solid DNA barcode reference libraries, necessary to enabling the species identifications required to assess ecosystem health in key European terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.

Now, for those in the business, here the paper’s abstract (you can also access the full version by clicking on the button below).
“This study presents the first results from the analysis of water mites collected in Portugal as part of the Biodiversity Genomics Europe project. We provide 305 COI DNA barcodes clustered into 75 BINs, with 40 BINs being unique and deposited for the first time in the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). We identified 65 species, of which 36 are new to the water mite fauna of Portugal. Two species, Torrenticola soniae n. sp. and T. elisabethae n. sp. (Torrenticolidae), are described as new to science. Forty-seven percent of the water mite species currently known from Portugal now have reference barcodes in BOLD. We recorded high intraspecific distances for some species, suggesting the presence of cryptic diversity and species complexes that need further study. Our results improve the DNA barcode reference database for Portuguese water mites, enhancing species identification accuracy and stimulating future investigation.
DNA barcode library of Portuguese water mites, with the descriptions of two new species (Acari, Hydrachnidia).

 

 

If you are interested in knowing more about BGE’s news, scroll down and subscribe to the project’s newsletter. You can also follow us on X and LinkedIn.