The complete mitochondrial genome of unique snout moth, Cathayia obliquella (Pyralidae: Galeriinae) with its phylogenetic implications and a redescription of external morphology

Abstract Cathayia obliquella Hampson was first reported by Hampson in 1901 as a brief description of the wing pattern, without any morphological study, including male and female genitalia, which has a very unique life style during its larval and pupal stage and phylogenetic status. In this study, we describe C. obliquella Hampson in the family Pyralidae for the first time and report it as new for Korea. Adults, genitalia, and the unique microhabitat of larvae of the species are redescribed, and DNA bar codes are also provided. In addition, we sequenced and annotated the mitogenome of C. obliquella and inferred the phylogenetic positions of the Galleriinae within the Pyralidae based on the available mitogenomes. The mitogenome size of C. obliquella is 15,408 bp, which is larger than that of any other Galleriinae, which ranges from 15,320 bp of Galleria mellonella ( NC_028532 ) to 15,273 bp of Corcyra cephalonica ( NC_016866 ). The 12 protein-coding genes are initiated by ATN codons, except for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene, which is seemingly initiated by the CGA codon, as documented in other insect mitogenomes. The AT skew and GC skew of the selected complete Galleriinae mitogenomes were also calculated. The AT skew and GC skew of Galleriinae are negative, indicating that Ts and Cs are more abundant than As and Gs. Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods were used to infer the phylogenetic relationships, which suggested that C. obliquella belongs to the subfamily Galleriinae.