The Grey-headed Lapwing (Vanellus cinereus) is a Vanellus bird belonging to the group Ciconiiformes, which breeds in northeast China and Japan. In this study, we sequenced its complete mitochondrial genome by PCR-based method. The mitochondrial DNA is packaged in a compact 17,135 based pair (bp) circular molecule with A + T content of 55.14%. It contains 37 typical mitochondrial genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs and 22 tRNAs and a non-coding control region (D-loop). All protein-coding genes are initiated by ATG codon, except for the COI gene and ND5 gene starting with GTG codon, and ND3 uses ATC codon. TAA is the most frequent stop codon. All tRNAs possess the classic cloverleaf secondary structure except for tRNA(Ser(AGY)) and tRNA(Leu(CUN)), which lack the ''DHU'' stem. The D-loop is a 1563 bp long A + T-rich region, which is located between tRNA(Glu) and tRNA(Phe).
Keywords: Complete genome; Grey-headed Lapwing; Vanellus cinereus; gene arrangement; mitochondrial DNA.