MOLECULAR SYSTEMATICS OF Chrysoperla carnea GROUP (NEUROPTERA: CHRYSOPIDAE) IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

The Chrysoperla carnea (Green lacewing) is an important predator of soft bodied insect pests of different crops like wheat, Maize, Cotton and others in Pakistan. Morphology, behavior and ecophysiology studies of Chrysoperla carnea were examined by the researcher while molecular study had not been checked. In this experiment the aim was to expand the studies up to molecular level to examine the systematic of Chrysoperla carnea. The results indicated that the level of DNA variation was high among the five Chrysoperla carnea species. Therefore, RAPD markers can be used successfully for the identification of Chrysoperla carnea species. The genetic similarity matrix of RAPD data for the five Chrysoperla carnea species was constructed. The genetic similarities of these lacewing species were ranging from 55% to 82%. Genetic similarity co-efficient for the five C. carnea species were utilized for the construction of a dandrogram by the UPGMA method. Since DNA polymorphism between the five green lace wing species is high (45%) as revealed by RAPD analysis. Dandrogram analysis showed a wide range of groupings for genetic similarity among five C. carnea species.