A chromosomal-level genome assembly of Aulacophora lewisii Baly, 1886 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Aulacophora lewisii (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a specialist herbivore that primarily infests cucurbit crops, with larval feeding causing potentially severe damage during the seedling stage. However, the absence of a high-quality genome assembly has hindered progress in understanding its evolutionary history and the development of mechanism-based pest management strategies. In this study, we report a chromosome-level genome of A. lewisii generated by integrating sequencing data from PacBio, Illumina, and Hi-C. The assembled genome spans 1,642.79 Mb across 3,183 scaffolds, with a scaffold N50 of 55.13 Mb. A total of 90.65% (1,488.95 Mb) of the genome was successfully anchored to 28 chromosomes. BUSCO analysis using the insecta_odb10 dataset (n = 1,367) revealed the genome assembly completeness of 94.6%, including 89.7% single-copy and 4.9% duplicated BUSCOs. Repetitive sequences comprise 79.43% (1,304.88 Mb) of the genome, and 15,588 protein-coding genes were annotated. This high-quality reference genome provides an essential foundation for elucidating the ecological adaptations of A. lewisii and for informing the development of effective, genomics-driven pest control strategies.