Complete mitochondrial genome of the subalpine swordtail butterfly Graphium (Pazala) parus (Nicéville, 1900) (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Abstract

The subalpine swordtail butterfly Graphium (Pazala) parus (Nicéville, 1900) is endemic to the Hengduan Mountains centered in West China, its biological and ecological characters still remain poorly understood. The present study reported the complete mitochondrial genome of this butterfly for the first time, which is the second mitogenome record for subgenus Pazala Moore, 1888. The mitogenome of G. (P.) parus is circular and 15,231 bp in length, and consists of 37 genes, including 13 PCGs, 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs. The maximal likelihood (ML) tree containing the focal species and 30 other available Papilioninae members placed G. (P.) parus sister to G. (P.) mullah (Alphéraky, 1897) inside tribe Leptocircini, which agrees with the taxonomic characters of this species. The findings of this study added data to the complex genus Pazala and would benefit future evolution and conservation biology investigations.

Keywords:

• Mitogenome
• protein coding genes
• transfer RNA
• ribosomal RNA
• phylogenetic position

Acknowledgments

We thank the Yulong Xueshan Provincial Nature Reserve Administration for assistance on the collection of specimens, and Adam M. Cotton (Chiang Mai, Thailand) for improving the earlier drafts of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the NCBI GenBank, accession numbers of all data are listed in this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the NSFC Program of China [41761011] and the Biodiversity Conservation Program of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China (China-BON Butterflies) [SDZXWJZ01013].