Mitogenomes of Three Satyrid Butterfly Species (Nymphalidae: Lepidoptera) and Reconstructed Phylogeny of Satyrinae

Abstract

Satyrinae is a 3000-species butterfly subfamily of Nymphalidae. The higher-level classification of this family is still controversial. In this research, we sequenced the complete mitogenomes of three satyrid butterfly species, Hipparchia autonoe, Paroeneis palaearctica, and Oeneis buddha, and studied the phylogeny of Satyrinae with all known complete mitogenomes. The results showed that the lengths of the three satyrid butterfly mitogenomes are 15,435 bp (H. Autonoe), 15,942 bp (P. palaearctica), and 15,259 bp (O. buddha). Gene content and arrangement of newly sequenced mitogenomes are highly conserved and are typical of Lepidoptera. These three mitogenomes were found to have a typical set of 37 genes and an A + T-rich region. The tRNA genes in these three mitogenomes showed a typical clover leaf structure, but the stem of tRNASer (AGN) was lacking dihydroacridine. In these three species, the lengths of the A + T-rich regions were different, which led to differences in mitochondrial genome sizes. The characterizations of the three mitogenomes enrich our knowledge on the Lepidopteran mitogenome and provide us genetic information to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree. Finally, the phylogenetic results confirmed the position of the genus Davidina in the subfamily Satyrini, had a closer phylogenetic relationship with Oeneis, and the phylogenetic analysis supported the formation of Oeneis buddha as an independent taxon in Oeneis.

Keywords

• mitochondrial DNA
• butterfly
• Satyrinae