The Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus is a waterbird, which breeds from north-east North America and across much of Europe and Asia. In this study, we determined its complete mitochondrial DNA sequence by PCR-based approach. The complete mtDNA sequence is 16,807 bp in size. The overall-based composition was 30.8% A, 31.1% T, 14.2% C, 24.0% G, with an A + T content (54.8%) rich feature. The mitochondrial genome consists of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 1 control region. All protein coding genes use the typical intiation codon ATN, except for COI. TAN is the most frequent stop codon, and AGG and T- - are also occurred very common. The tRNA(Ser(AGN)) and tRNA(Lys(CUN)) lacked the dihydrouridine (DHU) arm and formed a simple loop.
Keywords: Chroicocephalus ridibundus; complete mitochondrial DNA; gene arrangement.