Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of the Asian planthopper Ricania speculum (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Ricannidae)

The Asian planthopper Ricania speculum is a major agricultural pest for a variety of crops in tropical and subtropical areas. Rapid species diagnosis and source determination of this pest would be essential to the formulation of effective management, control and prevention strategy, and mitochondrial DNA has proven powerful for such purposes. In this study, we assembled and characterized its complete mitochondrial genome from Illumina sequencing reads. The whole genome of R. speculum is 15,729 bp in length, and encodes the typical set of 37 mitochondrial genes (incl. 13 PCGs, 22tRNAs and 2 rRNAs) and a control region. All PCGs are initiated with the typical ATN codons, and are terminated with either the complete TAA/TAG codons or the incomplete T(aa) codon. The nucleotide composition is asymmetric (47.4 %A, 14.8 %C, 9.5 %G and 28.3 %T) with an obvious bias towards A and T. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that R. speculum is closely related to Ricania marginalis.