Draft genomes of two blister beetles Hycleus cichorii and Hycleus phaleratus

Commonly known as blister beetles or <em>Spanish fly</em>, there are more than 1,500 species in the Meloidae family (Hexapoda:Coleoptera:Tenebrionoidea) that produce the potent defensive blistering agent cantharidin. Cantharidin and its derivatives have been used to treat cancers, such as liver, stomach, lung and esophageal cancers.<em> Hycleus cichorii</em> and <em>Hycleus phaleratus</em> are the most commercially important blister beetles due to their ability to biosynthesize this potent vesicant. However, there is a lack of genome reference, which has hindered development of studies on the biosynthesis of cantharidin and a better understanding of its biology and pharmacology. We report two draft genomes and quantified gene sets for blister beetles<em> H. cichorii</em> and <em>H. phaleratus</em>, two complex genomes with &gt;72 % repeats and ~1 % heterozygosity, using Illumina sequencing data. An integrated assembly pipeline was performed for assembly and most of the coding regions were obtained. BUSCO assessment showed that our assembly obtained more than 98 % of the Endopterygota universal single-copy orthologs. Comparison analysis showed that the completeness of coding gene in our assembly was comparable to other beetle genomes such as <em>Dendroctonus ponderosae</em> and <em>Agrilus planipennis</em>. Gene annotation yielded 13,813 and 13,725 protein-coding genes in <em>H. cichorii</em> and <em>H. phaleratus</em>, of which ~89 % were functionally annotated. BUSCO assessment showed that ~86 and 84 % of the Endopterygota universal single-copy orthologs were annotated completely in these two gene sets, whose completeness is comparable to that of <em>D. ponderosae</em> and <em>A. planipennis</em>. Assembly of the both blister beetle genomes provide a valuable resource for future biosynthesis of cantharidin and comparative genomic studies of blister beetles and other beetles.