Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Three Skippers in the Tribe
Aeromachini (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) and Their
Phylogenetic Implications
Abstract
The mitochondrial genome is now widely used in the study of the
phylogenetics and molecular evolution due to its maternal inheritance,
fast evolutionary rate and highly conserved gene content. To explore the
phylogenetic relationships of the tribe Aeromachini within the subfamily
Hesperiinae at the mitochondrial genomics level, we sequenced and
annotated the complete mitogenomes of 3 skippers: Amipittia
virgata, Halpe nephele and Onryza maga. All of these
mitogenomes are double-stranded and have circular molecules with a total
length of 15,333 bp, 15,291 bp and 15,381 bp, respectively. The
mitogenomes all contain 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs
(tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and a non-coding AT-rich region, and
are consistent with other lepidopterans in gene order and type. In
addition, we reconstruted the phylogenetic trees of Hesperiinae using
maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods based on
mitogenomic data. Results show that the 3 Aeromachini species in this
study robustly constitute a monophyletic group in the subfamily
Hesperiinae, with the relationships Coeliadinae + (Euschemoninae +
((Pyrginae + (Eudaminae + Tagiadinae)) + (Heteropterinae + (Barcinae +
Hesperiinae)))). Moreover, our study supports the view that
Apostictopterus fuliginosus and Barca bicolor should be
placed out of the subfamily Hesperiinae.