The complete mitochondrial genome of Apatura ilia （GenBank accession no. JF437925） was determined as a circular DNA molecule of 15 242 bp, with common genes of 13 putative proteins, 2 rRNAs, and 22 tRNAs and of the same gene arrangement as in other sequenced lepidopterans. All protein-coding genes had the typical start codon ATN, except for the COI＇s using CGA as its start codon as previously demonstrated in other lepidopteran species. The comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the A. ilia mitogenome with ten other Nymphalidae species showed nearly identical gene orientation and arrangement, with only a few alterations in non-coding fragments. The nucleotide composition and codon frequency all fell into the range estimated for the order Lepidoptera. The A. ilia mitochondrial genome had the canonical set of 22 tRNA genes folded in the typical cloverleaf structure, with an unique exception of tRNAs^r （AGN）. The mitochondrial genes from A. ilia were overlapped in a total of 33 bp at 9 locations, as well as interleaved with a total of 155 bp intergenic spacers, spread over 12 regions with the size ranging from 1 to 49 bp. Furthermore, the spacer between ND6 and Cyt b harbored a microsatellite-like repeat （TA）23 not found in other completely sequenced nymphalid genomes. The 403 bp AT-rich region harbored two conserved motifs （ATAGA, ATTTA）, a 21 bp polyT stretch, a 10 bp poly-A region, along with two microsatellite-like repeats （ （TA）10 and （TA）7）, as detected in other nymphalid butterflies.
The complete mitochondrial genome of the Parathyma sulpitia （Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Limenitidinae） was determined. The entire mitochondrial DNA （mtDNA） molecule was 15 268 bp in size. Its gene content and organization were the same as those of other lepidopteran species, except for the presence of the 121 bp long intergenic spacer between trnSI（AGN）and trnE. The 13 protein-coding genes （PCGs） started with the typical ATN codon, with the exception of the coxl gene that used CGA as its initial codon. In addition, all protein-coding genes terminated at the common stop codon TAA, except the nad4 gene which used a single T as its terminating codon. All 22 tRNA genes possessed the typical clover leaf secondary structure except for trnSI（AGN）, which had a simple loop with the absence of the DHU stem. Excluding the A＋T-rich region, the mtDNA genome of P. sulpitia harbored 11 intergenic spacers, the longest of which was 121 bp long with the highest A＋T content （100%）, located between trnSI（AGN） and trnE. As in other lepidopteran species, there was an 18-bp poly-T stretch at the 3＇-end of the A＋T-rich region, and there were a few short microsatellite-like repeat regions without conspicuous macro-repeats in the A＋T-rich region. The phylogenetic analyses of the published complete mt genomes from nine Nymphalidae species were conducted using the concatenated sequences of 13 PCGs with maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. The results indicated that Limenitidinae was a sister to the Heliconiinae among the main Nymphalidae lineages in this study, strongly supporting the results of previous molecular data, while contradicting speculations based on morphological characters.
