The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Rhacophorus dennysi (Anura: Rhacophoridae) with Novel Gene Arrangements and its Phylogenetic Implications

We determined the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of Rhacophorus dennysi (family Rhacophoridae). The R. dennysi mitogenome (18,052 bp) contained the 37 genes and a single control region (CR) typically found in neobatrachian mtDNAs. In the new mt genome, the ND5 gene and a TLPF tRNA cluster (tRNA(Thr), tRNA(Leu(CUN)), tRNA(Pro) and tRNA(Phe)) were located between the CR and the 12S rRNA gene. R. dennysi mitochondrial gene rearrangements observed here could be explained by the Tandem Duplication and Random Loss (TDRL) model. We used twelve mitochondrial protein-coding genes of the newly sequenced and other reported species to assess phylogenetic relationships of Ranoidea. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods supported the sister-group relationship between ((Rhacophoridae + Mantellidae) + Ranidae) and Dicroglossidae. Within Rhacophoridae, two species of the genus Rhacophorus (R. schlegelii and R. dennysi) were clustered together with the representative of the genus Polypedates (P. megacephalus), meanwhile, the representative of the genus Buergeria (B. buergeri) occupied the basal position in the clade of Rhacophoridae.