Mitogenomes of nine Asian skipper genera and their phylogenetic position
(Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Pyrginae)
Abstract
In this study, complete mitochondrial genomes of nine species
representing three tribes in the subfamily Pyrginae sensu lato
were newly sequenced. The mitogenomes are closed double-stranded
circular molecules, with the length ranging from 15,232 bp to 15,559 bp,
which all encode 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA
(rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a control region. The
orientation and gene order of these nine mitogenomes are identical to
the inferred ancestral arrangement of insects. All PCGs exhibit the
typical start codon ATN except for cox1 (using CGA) and
cox2 (using TTG) in Mooreana trichoneura. Most of the PCGs
terminate with a TAA stop codon, while cox1, cox2,
nad4, and nad5 end with the incomplete codon single T. For
the different datasets, we found that the one comprising all 37 genes of
mitogenome produced the highest nodal support, indicating that the
inclusion of RNAs improves the phylogenetic signal. This study
re-confirmed the status of Capila, Pseudocoladenia and
Sarangesa, namely Capila belongs to the tribe Tagiadini,
and Pseudocoladenia and Sarangesa to the tribe
Celaenorrhini. Diagnostic characters distinguishing the two tribes, the
length of the forewing cell and labial palpi, are no longer significant.
Two population of Pseudocoladenia dan fabia from China and
Myanmar and P. dan dhyana from Thailand are confirmed
conspecific.