A chromosome-level genome assembly of the endangered northern dragonhead sap beetle, Thymogethes norvegicus (Easton, 1959)
The northern dragonhead sap beetle ( Thymogethes norvegicus ) is believed to be endemic to Norway and is classified as endangered. Its life cycle is closely tied to the host plant northern dragonhead ( Dracocephalum ruyschiana ), itself classified as vulnerable in Norway. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of a male T. norvegicus . The assembly comprises two pseudo-haplotypes, hap1 and hap2, of 1,142 and 1,109 Mb, with 96.3% and 96.8% scaffolded into chromosomes, respectively. Hap1 contains 8 autosomes and the X chromosome, while hap2 contains 8 autosomes. Assembly quality was high, with conserved single-copy ortholog completeness scores of 96.6% and 90.7% and combined k-mer completeness of 98.1%. A total of 13,484 and 12,550 protein-coding genes were annotated in hap1 and hap2, respectively. This assembly provides a valuable genomic resource for the conservation of this endangered endemic species totally dependent on the vulnerable plant, the northern dragonhead.
Authors
- Morten Skage (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5312-8038)
- Kjetill S. Jakobsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8861-5397)
- Hallvard Elven (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6001-0839)
- Marius A. Strand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4354-4799)
- Ole K. Tørresen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1932-8212)
- Ave Tooming‐Klunderud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0057-2873)
- Giada Ferrari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0850-1518)
Institutions
- University of Oslo (NO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-11-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.11.10.765633
- Primary Topic
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Type
- preprint