Phylogenetic relationship and characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Camponotus japonicus (Hymenoptera: Formicoidea: Formicidae)

Camponotus japonicus Mayr, 1866 is a widespread and open-field formicine ant species in east Asia. In this study, we sequenced and analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of C. japonicus. This mitogenome was 16,422 bp long and encoded 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs) and two ribosomal RNA unit genes (rRNAs). Gene order was conserved and identical to most other previously sequenced Formicidae. All PCGs of C. japonicus have the conventional start codon for invertebrate mitochondrial PCGs (five ATT, four ATA and four ATG). All PCGs terminated with the stop codon TAA. The whole mitogenome exhibited heavy AT nucleotide bias (77.8%). Phylogenetic analysis positioned C. japonicus in a well-supported clade with C. atrox and C. concavus, and C. japonicus was more closely related to C. atrox than to C. concavus. Within Formicinae, the topology (Colobopsis + (Polyrhachis + Camponotus) + (Formica + (Nylanderia + Lasius) + (Anoplolepis + Acropyga))) was recovered.