Complete mitochondrial genome of Penicillidia dufourii (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea: Nycteribiidae) and phylogenetic relationship.

Penicillidia dufourii (Westwood 1834) is a specialized parasite categorized under family Nycteribiidae that prefers to parasitize the body surface of various bats under the genus Myotis. Many species of the family Nycteribiidae are carriers of various pathogens; however, research on P. dufourii remains scarce, and studies on its molecular identification and population genetic structure are still lacking. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of P. dufourii was elucidated for the first time using Illumina sequencing. The mitochondrial genome is 15,354 bp in size and encodes approximately 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 1 control region. Analysis of 13 protein-coding genes revealed that UUA, UCA, CGA, and GGA were the most common codons, while nad4L had the fastest evolutionary rate and cox1 the slowest. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mitochondrial genome indicated that P. dufourii is clustered with other species of the family Nycteribiidae and is most closely related to Nycteribia parvula and Phthiridium szechuanum.