Complete mitochondrial genome of the summer heath fritillary butterfly, Mellicta ambigua (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

Abstract

We sequenced the mitochondrial genome (mitogeome) of the summer heath fritillary bullterfly, Mellicta ambigua Ménétriès, 1859 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), which is listed as an endangered insect in South Korea. The 15,205-bp long complete genome contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 1 A + T-rich region with an arrangement identical to that observed in most insect mitogenomes. Unlike the other PCGs, COI had the atypical CGA start codon frequently found in lepidopteran COI. The A/T content of the whole mitogenome was 80.57%; however, it varied among the regions/genes as follows: A + T-rich region, 93.39%; srRNA, 85.37%; lrRNA, 84.92%; tRNAs, 81.13%; and PCGs, 79.22%. Phylogenetic analyses using concatenated sequences of the 13 PCGs and 2 rRNAs placed M. ambigua as a sister group to the within-tribe species, Melitaea cinxia, with the highest nodal support both in the maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods.