Abstract
DNA Barcoding is elusive to many taxonomists. Like the numbers in a barcode, barcoding attempts to link a type specimen with a part of its DNA, most commonly from the mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. Imagine a sequence of nucleotide DNA common in every organism, which has enough differences to distinguish the code of one type specimen from another. Take a sample from the type specimen of every known species and add them to a database. The result, a inventory of COI genes, canbe accessed at anytime to identify specimens, either in the field or in the lab. For many, this sounds too good to be true.
NSTL