California Insect Barcoding Initiative
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California Insect Barcoding Initiative
Hi all, I'm a miridologist (I study Tahitian mirids) and am also a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences. The California Institute for Biodiversity (CIB), a non-profit organization based in Berkeley, is conducting several All-Taxa Biotic Inventories, including one called the California Insect Barcoding Initiative (CIBI). CIBI aims to create a DNA reference library with a barcode sequence for each of California's known insect species. I am coordinating the project and am looking for two things: (1) anyone who has a curated collection of insects from California that are identified to species who may be willing to loan specimens to have DNA extracted from (of course you will have access to the data that comes out of this!) and (2) anyone who knows of an insect collection in need of rescue/a home, as the CIB has funding for the long-term storage of collections that might otherwise be tossed. I am reachable at bbalukjian@gmail.com. Thanks so much!
Re: California Insect Barcoding Initiative
Will these be uploaded to BOLD so they are easily accessible along with other barcodes? What is the turnaround time on the barcode?
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Re: California Insect Barcoding Initiative
Hi Chuck, yes, everything will be uploaded to BOLD. The turnaround time will depend on how recently the specimen was collected. For fresh material, much faster, for stuff more than 5-10 years old, probably not until late 2025. Thanks.
Re: California Insect Barcoding Initiative
That is so cool. Often in French Polynesia I'd note the many different beautifully colored darter (or blenny?) fishes and think that I'll bet some were undescribed. As it turned out, I was right.
Are you stuck with only Tahiti? Not Morea or anywhere else in the country? You should try Tonga's Niuatoputapu, no entomologist has ever been there. I was supposed to go, but bailed out at the last minute and stayed in Tongatapu; good thing too, the two day visit for my friends turned out to be six weeks.
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