The genome sequence of the scarce swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius

Abstract

The scarce swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius (Linnaeus, 1758), is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. Here we present a chromosome-level genome assembly for I. podalirius as well as gene and transposable element annotations. We investigate how the density of genomic features differ between the 30 I. podalirius chromosomes. We find that shorter chromosomes have higher heterozygosity at fourfold-degenerate sites and a greater density of transposable elements. While the first result is an expected consequence of differences in recombination rate, the second suggests a counter-intuitive relationship between recombination and transposable element evolution. This high quality genome assembly, the first for any species in the tribe Leptocircini, will be a valuable resource for population genomics in the genus Iphiclides and comparative genomics more generally.