Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are becoming model organisms for genetics and evolutionary biology. Decoding the Lepidoptera genomes, both nuclear and mitochondrial, is an essential step in these studies. Here we describe a protocol to assemble mitogenomes from Next Generation Sequencing reads obtained through whole-genome sequencing and report the 15,338 bp mitogenome of Lerema accius. The mitogenome is AT-rich and encodes 13 proteins, 22 transfer-RNAs, and two ribosomal-RNAs, with a gene order typical for Lepidoptera mitogenomes. A phylogenetic study based on the protein sequences using both Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood methods consistently place Lerema accius with other grass skippers (Hesperiinae).
Keywords: Clouded Skipper; De novo assembly; Hesperiinae; Illumina sequencing.