DISCRIMINATION OF 3 TYPHLODROMALUS SPECIES (ACARI, PHYTOSEIIDAE) USING RANDOM AMPLIFIED POLYMORPHIC DNA MARKERS

We compared the random amplified polymorphic DNA polymerase chain reac tion (RAPD-PCR) banding patterns obtained from four laboratory culture s representing three phytoseiid mite species (Typhlodromalus limonicus (Garman and McGregor), two cultures of Typhlodromalus manihoti (de Mo raes) and Typhlodromalus tenuiscutus (McMurtry and de Moraes). The RAP D-PCR was conducted on the pooled DNA from five adult female mites. Fo r each culture, three samples of five females were analysed with each of eight RAPD-PCR primers. Five of the eight primers could be used ind ividually to distinguish the species. To quantify the within-and betwe en-species variation, genetic distances were calculated based on the p roportion of shared scorable bands. The within-species genetic distanc es (0.072-0.186) were much lower than the between-species genetic dist ances (0.407-0.656). We believe that this technique could be used effe ctively to identify other cryptic mite species. (C) 1998 Chapman & Hal l Ltd.