The complete mitochondrial genome of Choristoneura longicellana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and phylogenetic analysis of Lepidoptera

• The complete mitochondrial genome of Choristoneura longicellana (= Hoshinoa longicellana) was determined.
• The rrnL of C. Longicellana is the longest in sequenced lepidopterans.
• In phylogenetic analysis of Lepidoptera, (Geometroidea + (Noctuoidea + Bombycoidea)) form the Macrolepidoptera “core”.

To better understand the diversity and phylogeny of Lepidoptera, the complete mitochondrial genome of Choristoneura longicellana (= Hoshinoa longicellana) was determined. It is a typical circular duplex molecule with 15,759 bp in length, containing the standard metazoan set of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and an A + T-rich region. All of the inferred tRNA secondary structures show the common cloverleaf pattern, with the exception of trnS1(AGN), which lacks the DHU arm. The rrnL of C. Longicellana is the longest in sequenced lepidopterans. C. Longicellana has the same gene order as all lepidopteran species currently available in GenBank. There are 5 overlapping regions ranging from 1 bp to 8 bp and 14 intergenic spacers ranging from 1 bp to 48 bp. In addition, there are four similar tandem macro-satellite regions with the lengths of 101 bp, 98 bp, 92 bp, and 92 bp respectively in the A + T-rich regions of C. longicellana. We sampled 89 species representing 13 superfamilies, and reconstructed their relationship among Lepidoptera by Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood analysis. The topology of the two phylogenetic analysis trees is identical roughly, except for Cossoidea in different locations, the positions of Cossoidea, Copromorphoidea, Gelechioidea, Zygaenoidea were not determined based the limited sampling. (Geometroidea + (Noctuoidea + Bombycoidea)) form the Macrolepidoptera “core”. Pyraloidea group with the “core” Macrolepidoptera. Papilionoidea are not Macrolepidoptera. The Hesperiidae (represent Hesperioidea) is nested in the Papilionoidea, and closely related to Pieridae and Papilionidae. The well-known relationship of (Nymphalidae + (Riodinidae + Lycaenidae)) is recovered in this paper.