Two new mitogenomes of Picidae (Aves, Piciformes): Sequence, structure and phylogenetic analyses

The family Picidae is classified in the order Piciformes with 236 recognized species in 35 genera. Phylogenetic relationships within the Piciformes are still unresolved by major cause of plumage convergence. This study presented two new mitogenomes of Picidae, Darjeeling woodpecker (Dendrocopos darjellensis) and Gray-capped woodpecker (Yungipicus canicapillus), with the size of 16,727 and 16,847 bp, respectively. They have the identical gene order: 37 genes, including 13 PCGs, two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two control regions. Furthermore, an extra cytosine insertion at position 174 of MT-ND3 was also found in both species. The MT-RNR1 of Y. canicapillus shared 89.0% nucleotide sequence identity and a similar secondary structure with that of D. darjellensis, consisting of 46 helices and three main domains. There is more divergence in the MT-RNR2 secondary structures than those of MT-RNR1 between the two species. We found the highest dN/dS for the MT-ATP8 (0.08326) among Piciformes, while the lowest for the MT-CO1 (0.00802). Our phylogenetic analyses suggested that the subfamily Picumninae is paraphyletic, and D. darjellensis had a closer relationship with D. major than D. leucotos. The findings of the present study will be useful for further investigating the evolutionary relationships within Piciformes.