Comparative mitogenome analysis of three species and monophyletic inference of Catantopinae (Orthoptera: Acridoidea)

To enrich the genomic database of Catantopinae (Orthoptera: Acrididae), mitogenomes of three species from different genera, Traulia nigritibialis (15,701 bp), Choroedocus capensis (16,293 bp) and Stenocatantops splendens (15,574 bp), were characterized and compared with those of other grasshoppers in the subfamily. All 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) were initiated by ATN codons except COI with ACC ( C. capensis and S.splendens ) and ND6 with TTG ( S. splendens ). All transfer RNA (tRNA) genes had a typical clover-leaf structure, except tRNA Ser(AGN) in which the base pairs of the dihydrouridine (DHU) arm were reduced. The phylogenetic relationships were constructed among 22 species from four subfamiles of Acrididae by classical classifications based on two datasets of their mitogenomes using both Bayesian Inference (BI) and Maximum Likelihood (ML). The phylogenetic analysis confirmed the monophyly of the three other subfamilies, but did not provided support of the monophyly of Catantopinae. • This is the first study to characterize the complete mitochondrial genomes of Traulia nigritibialis , Choroedocus capensis and Stenocatantops splendens . • The phylogenetic analysis confirmed the monophyly of the three other subfamilies, but did not provided support of the monophyly of Catantopinae.