Mitochondrial Phylogenomics of Scoliidae from China, with Evidence to Challenge the Former Placement of the Colpa Group.

Abstract

Scoliidae, also known as scarab hunters or flower wasps, are important in the biological control of scarabs and for pollination. Mitogenomic and phylogenetic studies are rare for this group. In this study, 10 mitochondrial genomes representing eight genera in two tribes of the family Scoliidae were determined. The general features and rearrangements of the mitochondrial genomes for 15 Scoliidae species representing all genera distributed in China were described and compared and the phylogenetic relationships among them were inferred using MrBayes and IQtree based on four data matrices. Most sequences of Scoliidae have one extra trnM gene. Species belonging to Campsomerini have lower A + T content than all Scoliini species except for Colpa tartara in this study. The AT-skew is positive in 7 out of 15 species. All 15 Scoliidae sequences have similar conserved gene arrangements with the same arrangements of PCGs and rRNA genes, except for Campsomeriella annulata. The tRNA genes have the highest frequency of rearrangement, and C. tartara is always rearranged as in its Scoliini counterparts. Our phylogenetic results support most of the relationships between genera and tribes of Scoliidae in former morphological studies. However, Colpa tartara is proved to be closer to Scoliini according to genome features, phylogenetic analyses and some morphological evidence, which challenges the former attribution of the Colpa group.