Rapid biodiversity discovery in megadiverse

tropical systems using Next Generation

Sequencing (NGS) barcodes

Darren YEO1, Amrita Srivathsan1, Wendy Wang1, Maosheng Foo2, Jayanthi Puniamoorthy3, Wong Wing Hing1, Rudolf Meier1 1Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore2Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore3California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco State University

Images from Animals & Plants of Singapore

What do we know about our invertebrate biodiversity?

Butterflies: ~290 spp

Dragonflies: ~128 spp

Crabs: >350 spp

Spiders: >310 spp

True Flies: ? spp

Beetles: ? spp

Nematodes: ??? spp

Mites: ??? spp

50 000 spp?

Next Generation Sequencing Barcoding• Direct PCR of COI gene• Sample pooling with labelled primers• Illumina Mi/HiSeq high throughput sequencing

• Cost:• Sanger barcoding: USD 10.00 – 30.00 per specimen• NGS barcoding: USD 0.50 – 0.57 per specimen

Fungus Gnats (Mycetophilidae)

1201 Specimens barcodedCa. 215 Species/OTUs

Soldier Flies (Stratiomyidae)

418 Specimens barcodedCa. 31 Species/OTUs

Termites (Termitoidae)

363 Specimens barcodedCa. 41 Species/OTUs

Rapid Species Discovery

Fungus Gnats- 1201 specimens barcoded- ca. 215 Species/OTUs

Mosquitos- 2163 specimens barcoded- ca. 95 Species/OTUs

Ants- 1904 specimens barcoded- ca. 100 Species/OTUs

Termites- 363 specimens barcoded- ca. 41 Species/OTUs

Bees & Wasps- 489 specimens barcoded- ca. 84 Species/OTUs

Soldier Flies- 418 specimens barcoded- ca. 31 Species/OTUs

Hoverflies- 266 specimens barcoded- ca. 23 Species/OTUs

Horseflies- 363 specimens barcoded- ca. 25 Species/OTUs

7167 Specimens BarcodedCa. 614 Species/OTUsSpan of half a year

Abundance & Distribution Information

Life History Stage Matching

Acknowledgements• P. I. Prof. Rudolf Meier• Co-authors Dr. Amrita Srivathsan, Dr. Wendy Wang, Dr. Ang Yuchen, Mr. Foo Maosheng, Ms. Jayanthi Puniamoorthy,

Mr. Wong Wing Hing • Other members and students of the NUS Evolution Lab• Interns from Republic Polytechnic