MORPHOMETRIC AND MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF CAMPYLOMMA VERBASCI (HEMIPTERA: MIRIDAE) ON INFESTED SESAME IN ERBIL- KURDISTAN REGION- IRAQ

Abstract

Sesame is an oil seed crop and is cultivated in many areas of the world, in Iraq, it is being grown especially in the Kurdistan region, including Erbil province. Campylomma verbasci is a piercing and sucking insect found on sesame plants in Erbil city during the summer season cultivation– in 2022. An investigation was carried out in the Grdarasha location within the sesame crop field to collect the above mentioned insect by using an aerial net and aspirator aimed to describe some morphological characters and identify the insect based on molecular techniques to determine genus and species. A set of specified primers were utilized to amplify the mitochondrial gene (COI) barcoding sequence. PCR products successfully resulted in 435bp of target DNA, and the sequence was sent to be sequenced, then the BLAST was performed in NCBI. The homogeneity of the query and subject sequence was very high. The BLAST showed that the sample was C. verbasci and it was the first time (in Iraq) to register these insect sequences in NCBI data reference.

Keywords

• bug
• miridae
• molecular technique
• pcr
• pest
• sesame