The complete mitochondrial genome of the Atylotus miser (Diptera: Tabanomorpha: Tabanidae), with mitochondrial genome phylogeny of lower Brachycera (Orthorrhapha).

Abstract

Brachycera is a clade with over 80,000 described species and originated from the Mesozoic, and its larvae employ comprehensive feeding strategies. The phylogeny of the lower Brachycera has been studied intensively over the past decades. In order to supplement the lack of genetic data in this important group, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Atylotus miser as well as the nearly complete mt genomes of another 11 orthorrhaphous flies. The mt genome of A. miser is 15,858bp, which is typical of Diptera, with 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and a 993bp control region. The rest of the orthorrhaphous mt genomes in our study have the similar structure with A. miser. Additionally, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis of 20 mt genomes using Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods in order to reconstruct the evolutionary relationship of Orthorrhapha. The results show that all infraorders of Brachycera are monophyletic, and a relationship of Tabanomorpha+((Xylophagomorpha+Stratiomyomorpha)+Muscomorpha) has been proposed. Within Xylophagomorpha, Nemestrinoidae forms the sister group of Xylophagidae.