Mitogenomics and phylogenetics of twelve species of African Saturniidae (Lepidoptera)

Zwannda Nethavhani; Rieze Straeuli; Kayleigh Hiscock; Ruan Veldtman; Andrew Morton; Rolf G Oberprieler; Barbara van Asch

doi:10.7717/peerj.13275

Mitogenomics and phylogenetics of twelve species of African Saturniidae (Lepidoptera)

PeerJ. 2022 Apr 18:10:e13275. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13275. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Zwannda Nethavhani¹, Rieze Straeuli¹, Kayleigh Hiscock¹, Ruan Veldtman^{2

3}, Andrew Morton⁴, Rolf G Oberprieler⁵, Barbara van Asch¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
² Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa.
³ Kirstenbosch Research Centre, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
⁴ Unaffiliated, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
⁵ Australian National Insect Collection, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, Australia.

Abstract

African Saturniidae (Lepidoptera) include numerous species consumed at the caterpillar stage throughout the continent, and their importance to local communities as a source of nutrition and seasonal income cannot be overestimated. However, baseline genetic data with utility for the characterization of their diversity, phylogeography and phylogenetic relationships have remained scarce compared to their Asian counterparts. To bridge this gap, we sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of 12 species found in southern Africa for comparative mitogenomics and phylogenetic reconstruction of the family, including the first representatives of the tribes Eochroini and Micragonini. Mitochondrial gene content and organization were conserved across all Saturniidae included in the analyses. The phylogenetic positions of the 12 species were assessed in the context of publicly available mitogenomes using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood (ML) methods. The monophyly of the tribes Saturniini, Attacini, Bunaeini and Micragonini, the sister relationship between Saturniini and Attacini, and the placement of Eochroa trimenii and Rhodinia fugax in the tribes Eochroini and Attacini, respectively, were strongly supported. These results contribute to significantly expanding genetic data available for African Saturniidae and allow for the development of new mitochondrial markers in future studies.

Keywords: Attacini; Bunaeini; Edible insects; Eochroini; Micragonini; Mitogenome; Phylogenetics; Saturniidae; Southern Africa.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Base Sequence
Bayes Theorem
Lepidoptera* / genetics
Manduca* / genetics
Phylogeny

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant No. 121293). Ruan Veldtman was funded by The South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFtE). Zwannda Nethavhani received a PhD bursary from the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (Grant No. 128333). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.