Mitochondrial genomics and phylogeny of noctuoid moths: Implications for Macroheterocera

The majority of the Lepidoptera species belongs to the Macroheterocera clade. The macroheteroceran superfamilies' phylogenetic relationships are still unstable. The construction of a robust phylogenetic tree and comprehensive analysis can be facilitated by an increased availability of mitochondrial genome data. In this study, the mitochondrial genomes of five species such as Episparis tortuosalis, Pandesma quenavadi, Erebus macrops, Polydesma boarmoides and Xanthodes albago from two families in the superfamily Noctuoidea were sequenced, assembled, and annotated. The mitochondrial genomes have characteristic circular double-stranded structures observed in other lepidopteran moths, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, two ribosomal RNAs, and the control region. All PCGs typically start with ATN codons, but nad4 and nad4l in E. tortuosalis are not starting with standard initiation codons. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using Bayesian Inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) through PhyloSuite v1.2.3 based on amino acid sequences of 13 mitochondrial PCGs. The tree indicates close ancestry of E. tortuosalis with Noctuidae insects rather than with Erebidae. Major superfamilies in Macroheterocera and their phylogenetic relationships were as follows: ((Geometroidea)+ ((Lasiocampoidea+ Bombycoidea)+ (Drepanoidea)+ (Noctuoidea))))); this showed a novel relationship compared to previous analyses. This analysis significantly enhanced the Noctuoidea mitogenome database and reinforced the high-level phylogenetic relationships of macroheterocera clade.