Lepisiota frauenfeldi and Lepisiota incisa mitochondrial genome sequencing and assembly. Browsing ant

Global trade and human movements outspread animal species, for example ants, from their native habitats to new areas. This causes biosecurity concerns because an exotic ant might have adverse impacts on agriculture, environment, or health; thus, incurring economic losses. Browsing ant, Lepisiota frauenfeldi, was first detected in 2013 at the Perth Airport. Since then, more discrete browsing ant infestations have been found in Perth and at the Port of Darwin and Brisbane. This exotic ant has been deemed a significant pest in Australia and warranted nation-wide eradication measures. However, tackling this invasion requires an understanding of how these infestations are related. Are they same or separate or a combination of both? Here, we carried out a phylogenetic analysis using high-throughput sequencing data to determine their relatedness. Our results showed that all the interstate incursions were separate. Furthermore, the Western Australian incursions might have two introductions. These findings are critical in devising effective biosecurity measures. However, we discovered that this information could only be revealed by analysing the whole mitochondrial genome; not by a single mitochondrial gene as typically done for species identification. Furthermore, we introduce a world first browsing ant mitogenome database including L. incisa for tracing future infestations.