Genetic Diversity of Chrysoperla sp. at East of Red Sea Using Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (COI) Gene

Genus Chrysoperla (Neuroptera Chrysopidae) contains 36 species. Chrysoperla carnea Stephens is a widespread predator in agroecosystems with great potential in biological pest control. C. carnea contains several cryptic species comprising the so-called carnea group. The species morphological similarity makes it difficult to differentiate them. Therefore, it is important to differentiate them through molecular methods. In this study, the cytochrome C subunit I (COI) gene have been partially amplified and sequenced for the same taxa of Genus Chrysoperla (Neuroptera Chrysopidae) inhabiting Jeddah and Tabouk (Saudi Arabia) in order to identify and examine their molecular diversity. The sequences (383 bp) have been manipulated by three analytical method, neighbor-joining producing. The tree topology divided, with strong statistical supports, Chrysoperla into two clusters. Jeddah samples clustered (BP = 62 %) with Chrysoperla carnea Stephens while Tabouk samples clustered (BP = 64 %) with Chrysoperla nipponensis Okamoto. Both pairwise genetic distances obtained from the concatenated data and amino acid substitution in COI gene supported this division.