Dear Colleagues,

The mitochondrial genome (mtDNA or mitogenome), with more than 8,000 complete records deposited in GenBank, is one of the most extensively sequenced molecular markers applied to study the evolution of animal lineages. It owes its popularity among molecular biologists to its compact size and simple genome organization, which facilitate DNA amplification and sequencing, and to the faster rate of nucleotide substitution, compared with most nuclear encoding genes. Single locus or complete mitogenomes are used for phylogenetic, population genetic, and barcoding studies of animal species, and have been analyzed in the past to understand patterns of mtDNA’s molecular evolution in several groups.

Arthropods are one of the most diverse and species-rich groups of invertebrates, although living species merely represent a subset of a much greater diversity that populated Earth for more than 500 Mya. Their long evolutionary trajectory is dense with unknown events that studies on fossil records have not completely clarified. Recent advances in molecular techniques have contributed to understanding arthropod origins and phylogenetic relationships among major lineages. Mitochondrial DNA data alone and in combination with morphological and nuclear markers have been used to address these topics. Further phylogenetic information is based on gene order data, since rearrangements appear to be rare events, and most mitochondrial genes often remain in the same position over a long evolutionary period.

This Special Issue of Diversity is dedicated to the study of the mtDNA evolution across arthropod lineages. Contributions are expected to be dedicated to a wide range of topics: From phylogenetic to biogeographic and barcoding studies; from the molecular evolution of the organelle’s genome to the analyses of compositional bias and rate variation; from the study of the secondary structure of RNA-encoding genes to the analyses of small changes to the genetic code.

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• Phylogeny
• Molecular evolution
• Species delimitation
• Barcoding
• Population genetics
• Gene order
• tRNA and rRNA
• Genetic code
• Nucleotide bias