Sequence change and phylogenetic signal in muscoid COII DNA sequences

The complete DNA sequence of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase II gene from house fly, Musca domestica, face fly, Musca autumnalis, stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, horn fly, Haematobia irritans, and black garbage fly, Hydrotaea aenescens, are reported. The nucleotide sequence codes for a 229 amino acid peptide. The COII sequence is A + T rich (74.1%), with up to 12.3% nucleotide and 8.4% amino acid divergence among the five taxa. Of the 688 nucleotides encoding for the gene, 135 nucleotide sites (19.6%) are variable, and 55 (8.0%) are phylogenetically informative. A phylogenetic analysis using three calliphorids as the outgroup taxa, indicates that the two haematophagus species, horn fly and stable fly, form a sister group.