Abstract
In this study, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome of the Japanese honeybee Apis cerana japonica. The mitochondrial genome of A. c. japonica is a circular molecule of 15 917 bp and is similar to that of A. c. cerana. It contains 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes and one A + T-rich control region. All protein-coding genes are initiated by ATT and ATG codons and are terminated by the typical stop codon TAA or TAG, except for the start codon of ATP8 which ends with C. All tRNA genes typically form a cloverleaf secondary structure, except for tRNA-Ser (AGN).