Eureka! Institutional Repository

The alfalfa plant (Medicago sativa) is considered to be the most important cultivation of forages. In Greece annual and multiannual alfalfa makes up 60% of fodder plants for hay. The lucerne beetle (Gonioctena fornicata) is one of the main pests of cultivated alfalfa. The insect feeds on leaves and stems and as a result a large portion of the production is lost. The purpose of this study was the molecular and morphological identification of the lucerne beetle species. Adult insects were collected from the areas of Sindos, Lagkadas Thessaloniki and Katerini Pieria and morphological identification through identification key was conducted, followed by the DNA extraction. The gene subunit I of cytochrome oxidase (COI) of mitochondrial genome which was chosen for the identification, was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction method (PCR). The PCR products were sequenced and analyzed in GenBank database. The database and morphological identification indicated that the insects were of Gonioctena fornicata (Coleoptera:Chrysomellidae) species