We describe the mitogenome sequence of alpine butterfly Aglais ladakensis (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Nymphalinae) collected from the Qilianshan Mountain, Gansu province, China. The molecule is 15,222 bp in length, containing 37 typical insect mitochondrial genes and one AT-rich region. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) start with ATN codons, except for COI gene with CGA, which is often found in other butterflies. In addition, seven PCGs harbor the typical stop codon TAA, whereas six PCGs terminate with TA or T. The rrnL and rrnS genes are 1316 bp and 735 bp in length, respectively. The AT-rich region is 394 bp in size and harbors several features characteristic of the lepidopterans, including the motif ATAGA followed by a 19 bp poly-T stretch and a microsatellite-like (TA)8 element. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) distributed A. ladakensis of this study is closely related to the A. milberti, which is the only Aglais species that occurs in the alpine caves of North America.
Keywords: Aglais ladakensis; Mitochondrial genome; Nymphalinae; Nymphalini; phylogeny.
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