The complete mitochondrial genome of Hincks, 1880 (Bryozoa: Gymnolaemata: Cheilostomatida): phylogenetic relationship of two kelp-encrusting bryozoans within the suborder Membraniporina.

The two commonest kelp-encrusting bryozoans, and , are difficult to distinguish morphologically. Molecular studies of should thus be helpful for the identification of both species because the mitogenome of was already sequenced. The complete mitogenome of collected from Sinjido was determined in this study through Illumina NovaSeq sequencing. Maximum-likelihood (ML) analysis was based on concatenated 13 protein-coding genes dataset from nine bryozoan species. The mitogenome length was 15,407 bp, and its gene arrangement was similar to those of the mitogenome of other membraniporids, having 13 PCGs, two ribosomal RNAs, and 22 tRNAs. It had an overall A + T content of 63.7% (29.7% A, 16.7% C, 19.6% G, and 34.0% T). and showed sequence differences of 20% for the total length of mitogenome and 16.1.% for 13 PCGs. Molecular data definitely consider them to be separate species. Phylogenetic analyses based on the amino acids of 13 PCGs indicated that has the closest relationship with another kelp-encrusting bryozoan, of membraniporids. The phylogenetic position of genera and families within the suborder Membraniporina coincides with the Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of the mixed concatenated alignment consisting of three partitions.