South African DNA Barcode Gap Analysis with Species Checklists and Sequence Records

South African biodiversity data from a 2026 gap analysis of DNA barcoding progress. The dataset contains 931,476 species barcode records, 52% of which were publicly available, comparing verified species checklists with sequences from BOLD and GenBank. It was authored by Mahlatse M. Kgatla and evaluates taxonomic and geographic representation across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats.

Use Cases

• Assessing taxonomic representation gaps for conservation planning based on the reported underrepresentation of plants and fungi.
• Analyzing regional biodiversity patterns based on the reported provincial BIN counts, such as high counts in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
• Evaluating sequence metadata quality for data integration based on the reported discrepancies between GenBank and BOLD records.
• Prioritizing future DNA barcoding efforts based on the gap analysis of underrepresented taxa and geographic regions.

Strengths

• Contains 931,476 species barcode records, providing a substantial quantitative basis for analysis.
• Includes a 20-year literature review (2003–2023) on DNA barcoding applications across multiple habitats.
• Compares data from two major sequence repositories (BOLD and GenBank) for cross-validation.
• Provides specific taxonomic representation percentages, such as 16.1% for plants and 2.8% for fungi.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (175.3 KB), indicating a limited scope, likely summary statistics rather than raw sequence data.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Mahlatse M. Kgatla.

Collection Method

Gap analysis comparing verified species checklists with barcoded sequences from the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) and GenBank.

Time Range

Literature review covers 2003–2023; dataset reflects status as of 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 18:00:14; freshness should be verified.

Geography

South Africa, with provincial breakdowns (e.g., Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North-West, Free State).