Phylogenetic Analysis of Tanypodinae (Chironomidae, Diptera) Infered From Whole Mitochondrial Genomes

The family Chironomidae, particularly the subfamily Tanypodinae, represents a significant component of freshwater ecosystems. This investigation sought to clarify the evolutionary affinities within Tanypodinae by leveraging whole-mitochondrial genome data. We generated the inaugural full mitogenomic sequences for 22 Tanypodinae taxa, added the mitochondrial genome sequence of another individual of Thienemannimyia tripunctata, merged these novel records with previously released chironomid mitochondrial genomes, and performed an integrated comparative mitogenomic survey encompassing 55 Tanypodinae species together with nine outgroup representatives from allied genera. The mitogenomes were characterized through de novo assembly, annotation, and comparative analysis. Our results demonstrated that the mitogenomes of Tanypodinae species exhibit a conserved structural organization, with the majority of genes arranged in the typical insect gene order. Phylogenies were reconstructed via Bayesian Inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) analyses of the amino-acid alignments of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), corroborating the monophyly of tribe Pentaneurini and the sister-group affinity between Procladiini and Tanypodini. These outcomes furnish novel insights into the evolutionary characteristics and phylogenetic framework of Tanypodinae while substantially expanding the mitogenomic archive for Chironomidae.