Complete mitochondrial genome of the gelechioid Stathmopoda auriferella (Lepidoptera: Stathmopodidae)

Although Gelechioidea is the second most species-rich group of Lepidoptera, comprising ∼18,000 species, mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) have been sequenced from only eight species. In this study, we determined the complete mitogenomic sequence of the gelechioid Stathmopoda auriferella (Lepidoptera: Stathmopodidae) for a future phylogenetic study of Lepidoptera. The 15,456-bp-long S. auriferella genome was the largest among sequenced gelechioids. The cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene had a CGA start codon as most other lepidopteran species do, including the eight gelechioid species for which datasets are available. An A + T-rich region (375 bp in length) harbored blocks of conserved sequences, which are typically found in lepidopteran insects. Bayesian inference (BI) phylogeny using 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) indicated that S. auriferella belongs to the Stathmopodidae family and is grouped together with the within-familial species Hieromantis kurokoi with a strong nodal support (Bayesian posterior probabilities =0.95).