DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES
Morphological Identification
The traditional method of identifying invertebrates involve the examination of diagnostic anatomical features, external or internal. The principal strength of this approach is it can be relatively quick for groups that have received appropriate taxonomic reviews. For many of such groups; however, identifications are dependent on features present in adult male.
Parataxonomy
Many invertebrate groups are poorly known taxonomically, and for these, a parataxonomic framework of morphospecies are often used. Alacran has extensive experience developing parataxonomies for such invertebrate groups, including (but not limited to) pseudoscorpions, isopods, harvestmen and flatworms. An essential component to Alacran’s parataxonomic process is their assessment using DNA sequences.
DNA Barcoding
This is the process of assessing species boundaries using DNA sequences. The gene COI (Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I), or fragments of it, are most commonly used for species delimitation; however, many other genes (or combinations of genes) can be used for this purpose. DNA Barcoding has several advantages over morphological assessments:
- potential to identify specimens from uninformative life stages or sexes
- potential to identify damaged specimens or parts of specimens
- potential to provide a parataxonomy for groups lacking taxonomic expertise of WA fauna
- potential to provide a parataxonomy for groups where morphological identifications may be time consuming owing to delicate dissections (snails, some pseudoscorpions and scorpions) or complex histological preparations (flat worms).
Morphological and molecular species delimitation are not mutually exclusive and their combined use can empower the taxonomic process in the following steps:
- Morphological parataxonomy is created
- parataxonomy is reviewed using DNA-barcoding
- where necessary, morphological taxonomy can then be refined based on congruence between morphological and molecular species.
BOLD System 4
At the completion of projects, all sequences generated for a particular project will be uploaded to BOLD (Barcode of Life Data System v4), an international and freely accessible DNA sequence database. BOLD has several powerfull features including:
- independent assignment of BINs (Barcode Index Numbers) a type of OTU (Operational Taxonomic Unit)
- geotagging of sequences/specimens and mapping of BINs
- provision of reference information for the specimens sequenced, including theie registration codes and custodians
- tools that allow comparisons of unknown sequences against BOLD and Genbank databases
- sequences can be published to Genbank as projects directly from BOLD
By making these data public, both research and consulting are further empowered.
Transparency and Public Accessibility
Alacran supports complete public accessibility to specimens and sequences used in its reporting process. Representatives of all SRE category species collected are offered to the Western Australian Museum. All sequences generated through this process are also lodged on BOLD where their data will also be linked to Genbank. Data are generally made publicly accessible after projects are completed.