Chromosomal-level genome assembly of golden birdwing Troides aeacus (Felder & Felder, 1860)

Abstract

Troides aeacus, the golden birdwing (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae) is a large swallowtail butterfly widely distributed in Asia. Despite its occurrence, T. aeacus has been assigned as a major protective species in many places given the loss of their native habitats under urbanisation and anthropogenic activities. Nevertheless, the lack of its genomic resources hinders our understanding of their biology, diversity, as well as carrying out conservation measures based on genetic information or markers. Here, we report the first chromosomal-level genome assembly of T. aeacus using a combination of PacBio SMRT and Omni-C scaffolding technologies. The assembled genome (351 Mb) contains 98.94% of the sequences anchored to 30 pseudo-molecules. The genome assembly also has high sequence continuity with scaffold length N50 = 12.2 Mb. A total of 28,749 protein-coding genes were predicted, and high BUSCO score completeness (98.9% of BUSCO metazoa_odb10 genes) was also revealed. This high-quality genome offers a new and significant resource for understanding the swallowtail butterfly biology, as well as carrying out conservation measures of this ecologically important lepidopteran species.