Mitogenomic analysis and phylogenetic relationships of Agrilinae: Insights into the evolutionary patterns of a diverse buprestid subfamily

Agrilinae is the largest subfamily in Buprestidae, which includes the four tribes, namely Coraebini, Agrilini, Aphanisticini, and Tracheini. However, there is a need to verify the evolutionary relationships among the taxa in Buprestidae. Thus, to explore the phylogenetic position of Aphanisticini, the mitochondrial genomes of Endelus continentalis and Cantonius szechuanensis were sequenced using next-generation sequencing technology. Three other mitogenomes of agriline beetles, Agrilus discalis, Sambus kanssuensis, and Habroloma sp., were also sequenced for the phylogenetic analyses. The divergence time of Buprestidae was estimated based on the mitogenomes. The general features of the known mitogenomes of Agrilinae were compared, analyzed, and summarized. Out of these five species, S. kanssuensis had the shortest mitogenome length (15,411), while Habroloma sp. had the longest (16,273). The gene arrangement of the five new sequences was identical to that of the reported buprestid mitogenomes. The Ka/Ks ratios of Meliboeus (0.79) and Endelus (0.78) were significantly larger than those of the other agriline genera. The results of the phylogeny indicated that Aphanisticini was more closely related to Tracheini and that the genus Sambus separated from the base of the Agrilinae clade at about 130 Ma. Moreover, Aphanisticini and Tracheini diverged at around 26 Ma.