Mitogenomics of Chinch Bugs from China and Implications for Its Coevolutionary Relationship with Grasses

Abstract

Blissidae (the Chinch bug) is a group with high species richness in Lygaeoidea, but there are only a few descriptions of mitochondrial genomes available. We obtained mitogenomes from 10 species of eight genera from Blissidae through second-generation sequencing technology. The length of the mitochondrial genome (excluding the control region) is between 14643 and 14385 bp; the content of AT is between 74.1% and 77.9%. The sequence of the evolution rate of protein coding genes was as follows: ND5 > ATP8 > ND6 > ND2 > ND4 > ND4L > ND1 > ATP6 > ND3 > COIII > COII > CYTB > COI. The mitogenomic structure of Blissidae is highly conservative. Gene rearrangement is only found in Pirkimeru japonicus (PiGXBS1), which is formed as the duplication of tRNA-H. The intergenic spacer between ND4 and tRNA-H, which form an obvious stem-and-loop structure, was found in all samples in this study. The phylogenetic trees generated by BI and ML indicated that Blissidae can be divided into three major clades: Clade A (only included Macropes); Clade B ((Pirkimerus + Bochrus) + Iphicrates); and Clade C ((Ischnodemus + Capodemus) + (Cavelerius + Dimorphopterus)). The divergence within the Blissidae began at about 56 Ma. At the genus level, the divergence was concentrated at 30–51 Ma, slightly later than the diversification of Poaceae. The consistency of divergence time between Blissidae and Poaceae might hint at the coevolutionary relationship between them, but further molecular and biological evidence is still needed to prove it.

Mitogenomic Comparison of the Mole Crickets Gryllotalpidae with the Phylogenetic Implications (Orthoptera: Ensifera)

“…Mitogenomes are one of the most information-rich characteristics, and are useful in phylogeny, evolutionary history, species delimitation and population genetics [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Such studies have been well documented in many insect groups, and greatly contributed to understanding their phylogeny and evolution [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. In Gryllotalpidae, however, only four species have available mitogenomes in GenBank to date [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Diversity and distribution of bamboo‐feeding true bugs in China

“…Among them, 8 species belong to Blissidae, 2 species belong to Colobathristidae and the remaining 3 species belong to Heterogastridae, Malcidae, and Berytidae, respectively. Blissidae species typically exhibit a narrow and flat body, predominantly feeding on Poaceae plants (Wang et al., 2022). They are commonly found in the sheaths of reeds ( Dimorphopterus japonicus (Hidaka, 1959)), wild rice ( Macropes raja Distant, 1909), sugarcane ( Cavelerius saccharivorus (Okajima, 1922)) and other Poaceae plants (Gao, 2010; Wang et al., 2022).…”

“…Blissidae species typically exhibit a narrow and flat body, predominantly feeding on Poaceae plants (Wang et al., 2022). They are commonly found in the sheaths of reeds ( Dimorphopterus japonicus (Hidaka, 1959)), wild rice ( Macropes raja Distant, 1909), sugarcane ( Cavelerius saccharivorus (Okajima, 1922)) and other Poaceae plants (Gao, 2010; Wang et al., 2022). Consistent with our field observations, Blissidae species inhabit almost exclusively in bamboo sheaths (Slater & Brailovsky, 1983, 1990).…”

Four new species of Ischnodemus (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Blissidae) and additional records from Argentina

“…More than a half of the Neotropical species of Ischnodemus are recorded from central and northeastern Argentina, mostly distributed in the Chaco and Pampa ecoregions where grasslands are abundant. A recent study on mitogenomes of 10 species in eight genera of Blissidae (Wang et al 2022) suggested that consistency of divergence time between Blissidae and Poaceae might hint at the co-evolutionary relationship between these families.…”