The complete mitochondrial genome of Pammene nemorosa (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) and its phylogenetic placement within Grapholitini

Abstract

The intergeneric attraction of Pammene nemorosa to sex pheromone traps targeting the Oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), may compromise the reliability of pest monitoring in apple orchards, yet the evolutionary context of this behavioral overlap remains unclear. Here, we sequenced and characterized the first complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of P. nemorosa and assessed its phylogenetic position within the tribe Grapholitini. The circular mitogenome is 15,457 bp long and contains the canonical set of 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and two ribosomal RNA genes, with a gene order typical of ditrysian Lepidoptera. The genome exhibits a pronounced A + T bias (80.1%), and its 484-bp control region contains a tandem duplication of an approximately 215-bp sequence unit, with each repeat copy marked by an ATAGA motif. Phylogenetic analyses based on Neighbor-Joining, Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian Inference consistently recovered P. nemorosa as sister to the Grapholita clade (G. dimorpha + G. molesta), with strong Bayesian support (posterior probability = 0.999), highlighting a potential discordance between its mitochondrial phylogenetic position and its current morphological classification within Pammene. These findings establish the first complete mitogenomic resource for P. nemorosa and provide a phylogenetic framework for interpreting its close evolutionary affinity with Grapholita species. Although mitochondrial data alone cannot establish the functional mechanisms underlying heterospecific pheromone attraction, the genomic resource established here provides a baseline for future integrative studies combining nuclear genomics, transcriptomics, and chemical ecology, and contributes to a broader understanding of the evolutionary relationships and ecological interactions within Grapholitini.