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Aim. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a newly discovered vole, Proedromys liangshanensis (Rodentia: Cricetidae: Arvicolinae), was determined. Results. The mitogenome of P. liangshanensis is 16,296  bp in length. As with most other mammals, it contains the same gene order and an identical number of genes or regions, including 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and one putative control region. The A++T content of the control region is 58.2%, the lowest proportion detected so far in Myomorpha. To confirm the phylogenetic position of P. liangshanensis, we carried out phylogenetic analyses based on complete mitochondrial genomic data using Bayesian, maximum parsimony, and maximum likelihood methods. Conclusion. All results revealed that P. liangshanenis is sister to Microtus. Although the results do not bear light on the validity of the genus Proedromys, based on the morphological characters, we suggest that Proedromys is an independent genus of equal rank to the genus Microtus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first complete mitochondrial genome of the large white-bellied rat ( Niviventer excelsior) was sequenced and annotated in order to provide a source of phylogenetic characters including an assessment of gene order arrangement. The mitochondrial genome sequence (16,298 bp) of N. excelsior contains 13 protein-coding, 2 rRNA and 22 tRNA genes as well as 1 typical control region (D-Loop), which are shared by other mammalian mitochondrial genomes. The codon usage also followed the typical vertebrate pattern except for an unusual CCA stop codon, which was termination codon of Cyt b. The 16 nucleotide insertion was detected in the central conserved domain of d-Loop. The 12 heavy-strand encoded protein-coding genes were used to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships by the Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods. Topologies revealed that N. excelsior clustered together with the species in genus Rattus, indicating their closer phylogenetic relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]