The complete mitochondrial genome of the red-necked stint Calidris ruficollis (Charadriiformes, Scolopacidae)

Abstract

The red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis (Charadriiformes, Scolopacidae) is a small migratory wader with an extremely large distribution range. Habitat loss at critical stopover sites in the eastern coastal regions of Asia is the most important threat to this species. In this study, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of C. ruficollis to better understand the mitogenomic characteristics and its phylogenetic relationships within Scolopacidae. In this study, we report the complete mitochondrial genome of C. ruficollis, which is a circular molecule of 16,860 bp in size and the A + T content of overall base of the composition of H-strand is 56.66% (A: 31.88%, T: 24.78%, C: 29.86%, G: 13.48%). This study strongly supports monophyly of Scolopacidae, and improves our understanding of mitogenome structure and evolution. In future, sequencing more mitogenomes from various taxonomic levels will significantly improve our understanding of phylogeny and taxonomy in Scolopacidae.