Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genomes of two Critically Endangered wedgefishes: <i>Rhynchobatus djiddensis</i> and <i>Rhynchobatus australiae</i>

We present the complete mitochondrial genomes of the Critically Endangered whitespotted wedgefish, <i>Rhynchobatus djiddensis</i> (Forsskål, 1775), and bottlenose wedgefish, <i>Rhynchobatus australiae</i> (Whitley, 1939), with the <i>R. djiddensis</i> mitogenome documented for the first time. The genomes for <i>R. djiddensis</i> and <i>R. australiae</i> are 16,799 and 16,805 bp in length, respectively. Both comprise 13 protein-coding regions, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, and a non-coding control region. All protein-coding regions consistently start with the ATG start codon; however, the alternative start codon GTG is observed at the start of the <i>COX1</i> gene. <i>NADH2</i>, <i>COX2</i>, and <i>NADH4</i> have incomplete stop codons: T or TA, and <i>tRNA^Leu</i> and <i>tRNA^Ser</i>, have atypical codons: UAA, UGA, GCU, and UAG. The phylogenetic analysis places <i>R. djiddensis</i> and <i>R. australiae</i> within the <i>Rhynchobatus</i> genus, separate from other families in the order Rhinopristiformes. We also highlight the most variable gene regions to expedite future primer design, of which <i>NADH2</i> was the most variable (4.5%) when taking gene length into account. These molecular resources could promote the taxonomic resolution of the whitespotted wedgefish species complex and aid in the genetic characterization of populations of these and related species.