Genome Assembly and Annotation of the Dark-Branded Bushbrown Butterfly Mycalesis mineus (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)

Abstract

We report a high-quality genome draft assembly of the Dark-branded Bushbrown, Mycalesis mineus, a member of the Satyrinae subfamily of nymphalid butterflies. This species is emerging as a promising model organism for investigating the evolution and development of phenotypic plasticity. Using 45.99 Gb of long-read data (N50=11.11 Kb), we assembled a genome size of 497.4 Mb for M. mineus. The assembly is highly contiguous and nearly complete (96.8% of BUSCO lepidopteran genes were complete and single-copy). The genome comprises 38.71% of repetitive elements and includes 20,967 predicted protein coding genes. The assembled genome was super-scaffolded into 28 pseudo-chromosomes using a closely related species, Bicyclus anynana, with a chromosomal-level genome as a template. This valuable genomic tool will advance both ongoing and future research focused on this model organism.