Research on the genetics and phylogeny of assassin bugs within the Phymatinae subfamily, the ambush bugs, has been taken on less due to historical challenges involved with the sequencing of non-model organisms’ genomes and early research into the subfamily deeming them not of ecological importance. However, prey records of Phymatinae have since found that they feed on a variety of Coleopteran, Dipteran, Hemipteran, and Lepidopteran plant pests, making ambush bugs of potential interest for biological control and as an informative contrast to hematophagous assassin bugs. Recent advances in chromosome conformation capture and single-molecule real-time sequencing technology have made the sequencing of non-model organisms, such as ambush bugs, significantly streamlined and effective. Using these technologies, we begin to address the lack of data on subfamily Phymatinae, by sequencing the genome of the striped ambush bug, Phymata fasciata (Gray)(Hemiptera:Heteroptera:Reduviidae). Using a combination of PacBio Hifi and Illumina Hi-C data, we assemble a total length of 710,813,075 bp, across 883 contigs. With this assembly, we phylogenetically place the striped ambush bugs among the greater phylogeny of other assassin bugs, compare differences in gene content and identify the sex chromosomes for future works. A complete sequenced genome will allow for further phylogenetic analysis of P.fasciata in reference to other members of Reduviidae, and provide key insights into both the evolution of sex chromosomes and the modern genomic study of non-model organisms.
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