The complete mitochondrial genome of Zicrona caerulea (Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae) and its phylogenetic implications
Zicrona caerulea (Linnaeus, 1758) is a cosmopolitan stink bug species, which belongs to the predatory subfamily Asopinae. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Zicrona caerulea from Shanxi, China was sequenced for the first time, using next generation sequencing. The mitogenome was found to be 15,479 bp in length. It contained 13 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and a typical control region. This research revealed an overall A+T content of 77.14%. All tRNA genes had a clover-leaf structure except for trnS1, which lacks a dihydrouridine (DHU) arm; and for trnV, the DHU arm forms a simple loop. The lengths of rrnS and rrnL were 797 bp and 1,285 bp, respectively. Because of a shortage in tandem repeats, the A+T-rich region was 644 bp in length. Phylogenetic relationships based on these mitogenomes, using Bayesian inference and Maximum likelihood methods, showed that Zicrona caerulea belongs to Asopinae. The monophyly of families of the Pentatomoidea is supported, albeit limited taxon sampling.