They revealed that DNA barcodes correctly identified nearly 100% of the
morphologically distinct species, and within species complexes (only 13% of the sampled taxa) maximum values
of divergence were much higher, which indicated the presence of cryptic diversity. In Europe, DNA barcodes
contributed to the confirmation of the species status of S. galeratum Edwards (Day et al. 2008) and the presence of
S. petricolum (Rivosecchi) (Day et al. 2010) in Britain, and the delineation of the Simulium vernum group in
Finland and Sweden (Ilmonen et al. 2009). In a similar molecular marker framework approach but using part of the
cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII), Hellgren et al. (2008) carried out a study to decipher the associations
between bird hosts, blood parasites and the simuliid vectors using female blood meals in Sweden.