This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing theresources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject andinvestigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source,and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed isfor the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator.Virtually nothing is known about the arachnid fauna of the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Traditional identification of arachnids requires a trained systematist and taxonomic keys for a given region. Since neither of these is presently available for the Black Hills of South Dakota, a survey of the arachnid fauna in the Black Hills is virtually impossible. A different approach is being used for the present project, that could best be described as 'reverse taxonomy.' Arachnid samples from the Black Hills are being collected and then sampled for DNA and characterized for a region of the cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial gene. These DNA barcodes will then be compared with vouchered specimens obtained either from DNA databases, such as genbank or with specimens obtained in collections from museums. This DNA barcoding approach not only provides a method of taxonomic identification, but also affords the opportunity to identify new species or novel genetic forms of described species.
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