Figure 1. Identification of a mixed bloodmeal.

The co-amplification of COI fragments from different hosts may generate several ambiguous nucleotide positions (in yellow and indicated by arrows). The ambiguous sequence can be subsequently compared with respect to a validated set of COI sequences from the hosts typically found in the study area. In this example, the sequencing electropherogram obtained could be the result of the simultaneous amplification of DNA from house sparrow Passer domesticus and common blackbird Turdus merula.