The first mitochondrial genome of the family Epicopeiidae and higher-level phylogeny of Macroheterocera (Lepidoptera: Ditrysia)

Abstract The Macroheterocera clade contains most of the Lepidoptera species. However, extensive comparative and phylogenetic analyses of this group using complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenome) are limited particularly in the context of increasing macroheteroceran mitogenomes reported to date. In this study, complete mitogenome of the Epicopeia hainesii is determined as the first Epicopeiidae species with mitogenome available. The whole mitogenome is circular with 15,395 bp long, and is highly biased toward A + T nucleotides (80.6%) in nucleotide composition. Comparative analyses show that gene content and arrangement of macroheteroceran mitogenomes are generally conservative and are typical of Lepidoptera but exceptions exist. In newly sequenced mitogenome, the motif “ATACTAA” is putatively located at the end of gene nad1 , rather than in intergenic sequences between trnS2 and nad1 genes routinely observed in Lepidoptera. Interestingly, multiple phylogenetic analyses recover the six macroheteroceran superfamilies as Mimallonoidea + (Drepanoidea + ((Bombycoidea + Lasiocampoidea) + (Noctuoidea + Geometroidea))), providing supports for a large-scale transcriptomic study rather than various mitogenome- and multiple-gene-based investigations. In addition, our analyses consistently place the Epicopeiidae as sister group with Geometroidea, firstly demonstrating that this family is closer with Geometroidea than Drepanoidea based on mitogenome data.