Two new mitogenomes of Pellorneidae (Aves : Passeriformes) and a phylogeny of the superfamily Sylvioidea

The superfamily Sylvioidea contains the most diversified species within the Passerida. The grey-cheeked fulvetta (Alcippe morrisonia) and the eyebrowed wren-babbler (Napothera epilepidota) are birds with a weak flight that live in lightly wooded or scrubland environments. In the present study, two new mitogenomes of A. morrisonia (KX376475) and N. epilepidota (KX831093) within the superfamily Sylvioidea were sequenced and their total lengths were 17 788 bp and 17 913 bp, respectively. Both mitogenomes comprised 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs and two control regions (CR and CCR). Similar to most metazoans, both mitogenomes and their protein-coding genes encoded on the H-strand displayed typical positive AT skews and negative GC skews. Bayesian inference and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses were conducted on the basis of partitioned data of mitogenomes and two identical topologies were observed. The family-level phylogenetic relationships ((((Pellorneidae, Leiothrichidae) Timaliidae) Zosteropidae) Sylviidae) among the superfamily Sylvioidea were strongly supported. Within the family Pellorneidae, A. morrisonia clustered with N. epilepidota. Within Leiothrichidae, we further demonstrated that Babax lanceolatus is sister to Garrulax perspicillatus, and Spizixos semitorques was nested within the genus Pycnonotus according to the mitogenomic data and we propose that the generic placement of Spizixos should be reconsidered.