The applicability of mitochondrial nad6 sequences to studies of DNA and population variability in Lepidoptera was tested in four species of economically important moths and one of wild butterflies. The genetic information so obtained was compared to that of cox1 sequences for two species of Lepidoptera. nad6 primers appropriately amplified all the tested DNA targets, the generated data proving to be as informative and suitable in recovering population structures as that of cox1. The proposal is that, to obtain more robust results, this mitochondrial region can be complementarily used with other molecular sequences in studies of low level phylogeny and population genetics in Lepidoptera.

A necessida de crescente de identificação e delimitação de novas espécies, ou de espécies crípticas já estabelecidas, que estão sendo perdidas a uma taxa também crescente, tem levado diversos especialistas a utilizar em uma variedade de ferramentas moleculares e computacionais. Neste momento, taxonomistas devem estar atentos a toda nova tecnologia disponível na chamada "revolução dirigida pela tecnologia"na sistemática, que tem entre as novas ferramentas moleculares a utilização de"DNA barcodes". O uso de "DNA barcode" tem sido amplamente discutido por aqueles que aplicam essa abordagem com sucesso para identificar e diagnosticar espécies, e por aqueles que acreditam que são tantos os problemas no uso desse marcador molecular que não se justifica seu emprego. Para insetos da ordem Lepidoptera nenhum lado parece estar totalmente certo ou errado e, embora alguns grupos de lepidópteros tenham sido resolvidos taxonomicamente pelo uso exclusivo ou adicional desse marcador, para outros o "barcode" ajudou pouco a resolver problemas taxonômicos. Aqui nós apresentamos brevemente prós e contras do uso de "DNA barcode" como ferramenta em estudos taxonômicos, com atenção especial para estudos com grupos de Lepidoptera desenvolvidos nos últimos anos.

Faced by a growing need of identification and delimitation of new and established cryptic species that are being lost at an increasing rate, taxonomists can now more than ever take advantage of an enormous variety of new molecular and computational tools. At this moment they should be open to all new available technologies in the so called "technology-driven revolution" in systematics. The use of the "DNA barcode" has been discussed by those applying successfully this approach to identify and diagnose species and by those who believe that the flaws in the use of this molecular marker are as many as to negate the worth of its employment. For insects of the order Lepidoptera neither side seems totally correct orwrong, and although many groups of lepidopterans have been taxonomically resolved by using exclusively or additionally this marker for diagnoses, for others the "barcode" helped little to resolve taxonomic issues. Here we briefly present some pros and cons of using DNA barcode as a tool in taxonomic studies, with special attention to studies with groups of Lepidoptera developed in the last few years.