Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I Gene Based Phylogenetic Description of Common Mormon Butterfly Papilio polytes (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Lepidoptera is one of the largest orders of insects that include moths and butterflies. Most of the lepidopterans are morphologically similar, therefore the identification of these insect are tedious using morphotaxonomy and that is detrimental in designing a better strategy to control and conserve them. These are an extremely important group of model organisms used to investigate many areas of biological research, including such diverse fields as navigation, pest control, embryology, mimicry, evolution, genetics, population dynamics and biodiversity conservation. Knowledge of lepidopteran genomics will create new methods of insect pest management and will contribute to sustainable agriculture, protection of the environment and the maintenance of biodiversity. In this study we have amplified cytochrome oxidase I gene of Papilio polytes for species identification and constructed phylogenetic tree for recognizing evolutionary relationship.