Comparative Mitogenomics in the Genus Chlorophorus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and Its Phylogenetic Implications

<i>Chlorophorus</i> Chevrolat, 1863, one of the most species-rich genera of Clytini, comprises 36 subgenera and 302 species/subspecies, with some species being of significant economic importance. To assess the monophyly and subgeneric system of this genus, we newly obtained mitochondrial genomic data from 21 species of <i>Chlorophorus</i> via high-throughput sequencing and reconstructed the phylogeny of this genus using ML and BI methods. The mitochondrial genomes of all sequenced <i>Chlorophorus</i> species were found to comprise 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), two ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and one non-coding region (control region, CR), reflecting a highly conserved gene arrangement. The mitochondrial genomes of the 21 <i>Chlorophorus</i> species range from 15,387 bp to 15,779 bp in length, and all exhibited AT bias. Analysis of the non-synonymous and synonymous substitution rates revealed that <i>ATP8</i> has the highest evolution rate, whereas <i>COI</i> has the lowest. Further, phylogenetic analyses were performed based on different datasets (13 PCGs + 2 rRNAs, 13 PCGs + 2 rRNAs + 22 tRNAs, PCG123, PCG12) using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. The results indicate that <i>Chlorophorus</i> is monophyletic, but the subgenera <i>Humeromaculatus</i> Özdikmen, 2011; <i>Immaculatoides</i> Özdikmen, 2022; <i>Brevenotatus</i> Özdikmen, 2022; and <i>Chlorophorus</i> (s. str.) Chevrolat, 1863, are not monophyletic. Based on the comparison of male genitalia, we found that the sclerites of the endophallus may exhibit phylogenetic signals for the genus.