Brettschneider, Helene

Dalton, Desire

Jansen, Ray

Kotze, Antoinette

Madisha, M. Thabang

Ponsonby, Damian

Schwaibold, Ute

English

Accurate species identification based on visual cues can be challenging due to morphological similarities and the cryptic nature of certain species. Thus a more conclusive methodof identification is required, namely DNA barcoding. This is the case regarding two SouthAfrican otter species, Cape Clawless otter (Aonyx capensis) and the spotted necked otter(Lutra maculicollis). Due to the cryptic nature of these animals faecal samples, known asspraints, are the easiest way of confirming the presence of the animal in an area. In thisstudy, we compared results obtained for universal and partial CytB primer sets on collectedspraint and tissue control samples. Universal CytB primers revealed a low percentage of amplified otter species from faecal samples (species specific amplification success of 10.9%)whereas, the partial CytB primer set resulted in successful amplification of 45 out of 55(82%) samples. We were thus able to positively differentiate between the two otter speciesusing the partial CytB primer set developed in this study. The ability to accurately identify species using partial DNA will be beneficial in understanding numerous aspects of thebehaviour and ecological importance of animals in their environmen

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Differentiation of two South African otter species (Aonyx capensis and Lutra maculicollis) from spraint based on partial CytB primer sets

https://research.tees.ac.uk/files/35718978/Madisha_et_al_2015.pdf

Differentiation of two South African otter species (Aonyx capensis and Lutra maculicollis) from spraint based on partial CytB primer sets

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