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. 2022 Feb;22(2):803-822.
doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13510. Epub 2021 Nov 3.

A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland

Tomas Roslin  1   2 , Panu Somervuo  3 , Mikko Pentinsaari  4 , Paul D N Hebert  4 , Jireh Agda  4 , Petri Ahlroth  5 , Perttu Anttonen  6   7 , Jouni Aspi  8 , Gergin Blagoev  4 , Santiago Blanco  4 , Dean Chan  4 , Tom Clayhills  9 , Jeremy deWaard  4 , Stephanie deWaard  4 , Tyler Elliot  4 , Riikka Elo  10   11 , Sami Haapala  12 , Eero Helve  13 , Jari Ilmonen  14 , Petri Hirvonen  15 , Chris Ho  4 , Juhani Itämies  12 , Vladislav Ivanov  8 , Jevgeni Jakovlev  16 , Aino Juslén  17 , Reijo Jussila  18 , Jere Kahanpää  11 , Lauri Kaila  11 , Jari-PekkaKaitila  19 , Ari Kakko  12 , Iiro Kakko  20 , Ali Karhu  21 , Sami Karjalainen  22 , Jostein Kjaerandsen  23 , Janne Koskinen  2   24 , Erkki M Laasonen  25 , Leena Laasonen  25 , Erkka Laine  26 , Petri Lampila  25 , Valerie Levesque-Beaudin  4 , Liuqiong Lu  4 , Meri Lähteenaro  27   28 , Pekka Majuri  29 , Sampsa Malmberg  13 , Ramya Manjunath  4 , Petri Martikainen  30 , Jaakko Mattila  18 , Jaclyn McKeown  4 , Petri Metsälä  31 , Margarita Miklasevskaja  4 , Meredith Miller  4 , Renee Miskie  4 , Arto Muinonen  32 , Veli-MattiMukkala  33 , Suresh Naik  4 , Nadia Nikolova  4 , Kari Nupponen  13 , Otso Ovaskainen  3   34   35 , Ika Österblad  36 , Lauri Paasivirta  37 , Timo Pajunen  17 , Petri Parkko  38 , Juho Paukkunen  11 , Ritva Penttinen  10   11 , Kate Perez  4 , Jaakko Pohjoismäki  24 , Sean Prosser  4 , Martti Raekunnas  39 , Miduna Rahulan  4 , Meeri Rannisto  17 , Sujeevan Ratnasingham  4 , Pekka Raukko  40 , Aki Rinne  25 , Teemu Rintala  41 , Susana Miranda Romo  4 , Jukka Salmela  42   43 , Juha Salokannel  44 , Riitta Savolainen  3 , Leif Schulman  5   17 , Pasi Sihvonen  17 , Dina Soliman  4 , Jayme Sones  4 , Claudia Steinke  4 , Gunilla Ståhls  17 , Jukka Tabell  45 , Mikko Tiusanen  2 , Gergely Várkonyi  46 , Eero J Vesterinen  1   47 , Esko Viitanen  13 , Veli Vikberg  48 , Matti Viitasaari  25 , Jussi Vilen  49 , Connor Warne  4 , Catherine Wei  4 , Kaj Winqvist  50 , Evgeny Zakharov  4 , Marko Mutanen  8
Affiliations
Free article

A molecular-based identification resource for the arthropods of Finland

Tomas Roslin et al. Mol Ecol Resour. 2022 Feb.
Free article

Abstract

To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society.

Keywords: COI; DNA barcodes; PROTAX; probabilistic taxonomic assignment; reference library; species identification.

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