Exploring the diversity of leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) on the islands of Vietnam: A survey of Phu Quoc Island, south of Vietnam

Abstract Chrysomelidae on the islands of Vietnam has been poorly known. In this study, we investigated the diversity of Chrysomelidae on Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang province, Southern Vietnam. Specimens were collected from Phu Quoc national park and the buffer zone forest. First, all specimens were ordered into a morph-species operational taxonomic unit (OTU). We collected 52 morphological OTUs of 31 genera and 5 subfamilies, 20 of which were identified as level species. Then, all morphological OTUs were extracted, amplified, and sequenced from the 658 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. A total of 63 DNA barcode sequences of 13 species and 27 morphological OTUs were successfully sequenced and assigned to 32 Barcode Index Numbers (BIN) in Bold. In the comparison, between morphological OTUs and BINs, the number of OTUs was reduced to 20 species and 24 OTUs (a total of 44 OTUs). The number of species on Phu Quoc Island is estimated to be 1.38x –1. 96x greater. A total of 32 BINs were generated from this study, 30 of which were new to Vietnam and 28 of which were new to BOLD. The results of this study provide the first document of the leaf beetle fauna on Phu Quoc island and the first DNA Barcoding data for Chrysomelidae from this region in Vietnam, as well as additional documents of leaf beetles on islands from another world