Complete mitochondrial genome of Amorophaga japonica Robinson, 1986 (Lepidoptera: Tineidae)

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Amorophaga japonica Robinson, 1986 (Lepidoptera: Tineidae), comprises 15,027 base pairs (bp) and contains a typical set of genes (13 protein-coding genes [PCGs], 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes), and 1 non-coding region. The genome has an arrangement, trnW-trnY-trnC, instead of typical trnW- trnC-trnY at the ND2 and COI junction. This arrangement is unique in lepidopteran mitogenomes. Unlike most lepidopteran insects, which have CGA as the start codon for the COI gene sequence, A. japonica COI had a typical ATT codon. The A + T-rich region was unusually short, with only 199 bp. Phylogenetic analyses with concatenated sequences of the 13 PCGs and two rRNA genes using the Bayesian inference method placed A. japonica in Tineidae as a sister to the cofamilial species, Tineola bisselliella, with high nodal support (Bayesian posterior probability [BPP] = 0.99), presenting the superfamily Tineoidea in a monophyletic group with a BPP of 0.99. Gracillarioidea, represented by three species of Gracillariidae, formed a monophyletic group with the highest BPP, but the Leucoptera malifoliella in Yponomeutoidea was unusually grouped together with the Gracillarioidea with the highest nodal support. As more mitogenome sequences are available, further analysis to infer the relationships among superfamilies of Lepidoptera might be possible.