Identification of Japanese Lymantria species (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) based on DNA sequences

We examined the utility of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and II (COII) genes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as a tool to identify nine Japanese Lymantria species, including four Asian gypsy moth species [Lymantria dispar japonica (Motschulsky), Lymantria umbrosa (Butler), Lymantria albescens Hori and Umeno, and Lymantria postalba Inoue]. In phylogenetic trees constructed for the COI and COII genes using the maximum likelihood methods, we could identify seven out of the nine Lymantria species (L. albescens and L. postalba could not be identified). These results suggest that the DNA sequences of the COI and COII genes are useful for identifying Japanese Lymantria species.