Dna barcoding a collection of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Isla Del Coco, Costa Rica

Abstract

Islands can be exceptionally sensitive to changes brought about by newly arrived species. Non-native ants on an island can cause catastrophic changes. Identifying these non-native species is taxonomically challenging because their geographic source is unknown. We DNA barcoded a 2011 collection of ants from Isla del Coco in the Pacific Ocean, about 500 km from the mainland of Costa Rica and Colombia. We compared these barcodes with those from Area de Conservación Guanacaste in northwestern (coastal) Costa Rica, and with ant barcodes from elsewhere in the Neotropics. We found 10 species from 7 genera in 3 subfamilies.