Identifying earthworms through DNA barcodes: Pitfalls and promise

This paper re-evaluated the use of DNA barcodes in earthworm species identification by re-analyzing sequence data for the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene. This analysis unveiled and confirmed taxonomic inconsistencies which significantly affect data interpretation. When considering synonymy and misidentification in published records, our results revealed no shared COI haplotypes between morphologically distinct species and higher interspecific than intraspecific divergence in most cases, with interspecific and intraspecific distances averaging 18.7% and 1.3% respectively. However, a few earthworm species endemic to Taiwan have deep intraspecific divergences which may represent potential cases of cryptic diversity, although incomplete lineage sorting cannot be ruled out without further study. We recognize the potential of DNA barcoding for earthworm taxonomy, but have identified several issues regarding the evolution of the COI gene in these organisms which remain to be further elucidated. & 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.