The complete mitochondrial genome of the Jackson’s leaf butterfly Mallika jacksoni (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

The Jackson’s leaf butterfly Mallika jacksoni (Sharpe 1896), is a leaf-mimicking species from tropical East Africa. Genome skimming by Illumina sequencing permitted the assembly of the complete circular M. jacksoni 15,183 bp mitogenome. It consists of 79.4% AT nucleotides, 22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, and a control region in the typical butterfly gene order. Mallika jacksoni COX1 has a CGA start codon while ATP6, COX1, COX2, ND3, ND4, and ND5 exhibit partial stop codons completed by 3′-A residues added to the mRNA. Phylogenetic reconstruction places M. jacksoni as sister to Kallima within nymphalid tribe Kallimini.