Novel tRNA gene rearrangements in the mitochondrial genomes of Poneroid Ants

Ants (Formicidae) are the most diverse eusocial insects in Hymenoptera, distributing across 17 extant subfamilies grouped into 3 major clades, the Formicoid, Leptanilloid and Poneroid. While the mitogenomes of Formicoid ants have been well studied, there is a lack of published data on mitogenomes of Poneroid ants, which requires further characterization. In this study, we first present three complete mitogenomes of Poneroid ants: Paraponera clavata, the only extant species from the subfamily Paraponerinae, and two species (Harpegnathos venator and Buniapone amblyops) from the Ponerinae subfamily.