Mitochondrial genomes and phylogenomic analysis of Plectostylus broderipii and Bostryx erythrostoma (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora, Orthalicoidea) from the Atacama Desert, Chile
Journal
ZooKeys
Date Issued
2026-09-01
Author(s)
University of Atacama
Barahona-Segovia, Rodrigo M.
Catalán-Garrido, Ricardo
Araya, Juan Francisco
Arias-Aburto, Mariana
Pizarro-Gacitúa, César
Abstract
We report the first mitochondrial genomes of two Orthalicoidea land snails from the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, Bostryx erythrostoma and Plectostylus broderipii . Using Illumina short-read sequencing, we assembled and annotated mitochondrial genomes of 15,525 bp and 14,978 bp, respectively, with strong A+T bias (69.75% in B. erythrostoma ; 72.08% in P. broderipii ). Both genomes retain the standard metazoan mitochondrial complement of 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNAs, and two rRNAs, with differences in total length mainly due to variation in non-coding regions rather than coding-gene content. Comparative analysis showed that the two species share the same order of the 13 PCGs, whereas differences are concentrated in local tRNA/rRNA rearrangements and intergenic architecture. Both mitogenomes also exhibit negative AT skew and positive GC skew under a standardized orientation. Phylogenetic inference based on a concatenated 13-PCG nucleotide supermatrix resolved both taxa within Orthalicoidea with strong support: B. erythrostoma grouped with a congeneric Bostryx reference, and this clade clustered with Rabdotus mooreanus and Naesiotus nux , whereas P. broderipii was inferred as sister to this orthalicoid cluster.


