Complete mitochondrial genome of the wild silkmoth, <i>Saturnia boisduvalii</i> (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)

Abstract

Abstract We sequenced mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the wild silkmoth, Saturnia boisduvalii (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), which occurs in mainland Korea, and compared it with other species in Bombycoidea to characterize the genomic evolution of the superfamily. We found that the composition and arrangement of genes in the 15,257‐bp S . boisduvalii genome are typical of the majority of Lepidoptera, and the genome is biased toward A/T nucleotides, as previously reported. Comparison of individual gene divergence among bombycoid species showed that ND6 was most variable ( p ‐distance = 0.21), whereas COI and COII were most conserved, indicating that of all the protein‐coding genes (PCGs) ND6 appear to have evolved most rapidly. Thus, other PCGs beside COI are potential alternative markers, where scrutinized discrimination among species is required.