# Phylogenetic investigation and mitochondrial genome description of ten species in nine genera of Cicadellinae from China (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

## TL;DR

This paper describes the mitochondrial genomes of ten leafhopper species from China and uses them to explore their evolutionary relationships.

## Contribution

The study provides new mitochondrial genome sequences and phylogenetic insights for ten Cicadellinae species from China.

## Key findings

- Mitochondrial genomes of ten Cicadellinae species show high AT content and standard tRNA structures.
- Phylogenetic analyses reveal consistent intergeneric and interspecific relationships within Cicadellinae.
- The study sheds light on the molecular evolution of the pronotum in Cicadellinae.

## Abstract

The Cicadellinae subfamily of the Cicadellidae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadelloidea) is quite large, with about 2400 species across 330 genera worldwide, of which 263 species in 23 genera occur in China. This work involved the sequencing of the mitochondrial genomes of ten species and nine genera within the Cicadellinae family: Anagonalia emeiensis, Anagonalia melichari, Anatkina vespertinula, Erragonalia choui, Gunungidia aurantiifasciata, Kolla paulula, Nanatka castenea, Paratkina nigrifasciana, Seasogonia rosea, and Stenatkina angustata. The acquired mitogenomes displays a significant AT bias, with the AT contents ranging from 76.1% to 81.7%. The lengths of the mitochondrial genomes range from 14,768 bp to 16,194 bp. TAG and a single T are less frequently used as stop codons, whereas TAA is the most frequently used one. Less PCGs begin with T/GTG, and the majority begin with the conventional ATN (ATA/T/G/C) codon. All tRNA genes in Cicadellinae mitogenomes fold into the standard secondary structure of a cloverleaf,except for trnS1, which lacks a stable dihydrouridine (DHU) stem and instead has s simple loop. Six phylogenetic trees constructed by maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) for the three mitochondrial datasets, respectively, consistently showed intergeneric and interspecific relationships within the Cicadellinae. Our results in particular shed light on the molecular and phylogenetic evolution of the pronotum in Cicadellinae.