Molecular and Phylogenetic Analysis of Family Aeshnidae of Hazara Region, Pakistan

Current study was conducted on family Aeshnidae from Hazara region of Pakistan. During the survey a total of 125 members were collected and identified into 2 species under single genus. The present study focuses on molecular characterizations and phylogenetics of family Aeshnidae. Phylogenies of the analyzed taxa were elaborated with maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony and Bayesian analysis. We sequenced both mitochondrial genes i.e., COI and 16S rRNA, separate and combined CO1+16S data sets revealed evolutionary relationship within Aeshnidae at the species and genera level. Mean Pairwise Distances (MPD) of each species were ranged from 0.00 to 84.60%. Evolutionary rate differences among two categories Gamma distribution and Invariant were recorded as 0.07 and 1.20 substitutions per site. DNA based identification using CO1, 16S and combined CO1+16S data set, for all Aeshnidae species shared genetic similarities having bootstrap values MLB=70–100%, MPB= 52–100% and BPP=0.75–1% respectively. The analysis of the combined (COI+16S) data set produced trees with complete stronger bootstrap support than analyses of either gene alone. These findings had shown that the taxonomic position of Aeshnidae species based on morphological characters could be verified, further improved and confirmed by the use of modern molecular biological tools which involve the nucleotide sequences of genes used in phylogenetic investigations. © 2021 Friends Science Publishers