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DNA Barcoding of Aporrectodea caliginosa Species-complex Earthworms Revealed the Presence of Aporrectodea tuberculata (Eisen, 1874) and Aporrectodea trapezoides (Dugés, 1828) from the Western Himalaya, India

Shailja Kumari, Sasankan Prasanth Narayanan and Jatinder Mohan Julka
School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences, Solan-173 229 (Himachal Pradesh), India
*(e-mail : shailjakhajuria@yahooo.in; Mobile : 8894618552)
(Received : November 14, 2020; Accepted : January 11, 2021)

ABSTRACT

Inconsistency of the morphological characters makes the identification of Aporrectodea caliginosa speciescomplex earthworms problematic in classical taxonomy. In the present study, 16S rDNA barcoding in addition to classical taxonomy was involved for identification of A. caliginosa species-complex earthworms from the Western Himalaya. Earthworms of A. caliginosa species-complex were collected from the state of Himachal Pradesh, India and were identified as A. tuberculata and A. trapezoides by using integrative taxonomic approach.
Key words : : Earthworms, Aporrectodea, peregrine, 16S rDNA gene, lumbricidae