Morphological and Molecular Identification of Aporrectodea trapezoides (Duges, 1828) in Baghdad

Abstract

In this study, Aporrectodea trapezoides were collected from three locations in the north, central and south of Baghdad (Rashdiyah, Jadriyah and Zafaraniyah). The species was initially identified using morphological characteristics, and then genetic links among the researched species in the three locations were analyzed using molecular techniques (DNA barcoding). In order to validate the species of earthworms examined, their nuclear 18S rDNA gene sequences were analyzed and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The nucleotide sequences were compared to those in GenBank by using the online Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (Blast). The DNA barcoding of the nuclear 18S rDNA has been shown to be an effective tool for species identification of earthworms, and it provides a powerful complement to traditional morphological identification as shown by a Blast analysis showing 99-100% similarity with sequence annotated in GenBank at 18S region. DNA sequence from one of the species under study has been submitted in GenBank with an accession number.