Mitogenomic characterization of the endangered butterfly Lycanea dispar. Two new sequences, and comparative evolutionary genomics within the family Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera, Papilionidaea).

The family Lycaenidae has a diverse group of butterflies with significant ecological, evolutionary, and conservation importance. The markers obtained from mitochondrial genome for these species have played and continue to play a key role in the characterization of species of Lepidoptera. The circular mitochondrial genome of insects is typically around 16 kb, containing the standard metazoan set of 37 genes: 13 Protein-Coding Genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs, 2 ribosomal RNAs and a control region. In butterflies (Papilionoidea), most species share the plesiomorphic MIQGO gene order, but the family Lycaenidae shows frequent changes in its mitochondrial genome; one common change is having two copies of the trnS1 gene (2S1GO) and multiple anticodon shifts, and in Riodinidae family remains poorly characterized for mitogenomic variation. In this study, the 2S1GO arrangement is a notable exception, occurring in 46 species of Lycaenidae but absent from family Riodinidae. We studied macrostructural changes creating gene orders of butterflies by analysing a data set of 108 taxa containing 2 novel mitogenomes sequences for family Lycaenidae. These taxa were re-annotated and combined with the new mitogenomes in a large dataset. Further analyses in progress, including phylogenetic reconstruction using concatenated alignment encompassing the mitochondrial protein-coding genes (PCGs), are being done to explore the complex evolutionary relationships within Lycaenidae family. Ongoing analyses aim to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships with Lycaenidae species by combining all mitochondrial protein-coding genes (PCG) into a single aligned dataset to study their complex evolutionary history. These findings will help resolve current taxonomic uncertainties and improve our understanding of butterfly (Lycaenidae) evolution.