PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHOICE OF A DNA-SEQUENCE REGION IN INSECT MOLECULAR SYSTEMATICS, WITH A SHORT REVIEW OF PUBLISHED STUDIES USING NUCLEAR GENE REGIONS

Evolution, weighting, and phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial gene sequences and a compilation of conserved polymerase chain reaction primers. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 87: 651-701) examined the dynamics of sequence evolution in mitochondrial DNA with respect to choice of a gene region of the molecule as a source of characters for systematics. Here, we present a brief companion discussion of nuclear genes that are potentially useful for phylogenetic studies in arthropods. Although we are in agreement with most of the Simon et al. discussion on levels of variation and phylogenetic utility of the various available classes of genes, we supplement their discussion of sequence alignment and character weighting and congruence versus combination of data with our own views on these matters, as they pertain to both nuclear and mitochondrial genes. We also offer some guidelines on nuclear primer design and methods for exploring less well-known parts of the genome.