Mitogenomic phylogeny of the aquatic subterranean Bathynellacea (Crustacea, Malacostraca) and implications for the monophyly of Syncarida

The crustacean order Bathynellacea is a specialized monophyletic lineage restricted to aquatic subterranean environments and comprises approximately 340 extant species from three families. Despite advances in sequencing technologies that have significantly increased the number of sequenced crustacean mitogenomes, no bathynellacean mitogenomes have been reported to date. In this study, we report the first complete mitogenomes for Bathynellacea—Allobathynella sp., Arisubathynella cheongmiensis, Hangangbathynella mihoensis (Parabathynellidae), and Bathynella cf. rufa (Bathynellidae)—from two families. These mitogenomes, ranging from 14,422 to 16,645 bp in length, are characterized by extensive gene rearrangements, pronounced compositional biases, and accelerated evolutionary rates. Phylogenetic analyses based on malacostracan mitogenomic data strongly support the monophyly of Bathynellacea. However, the exceptionally long branches separating bathynellacean taxa suggest that extensive morphological simplification, driven by parallel adaptations to subterranean environments, may mask the ancestral diagnostic signals required to resolve their deep-level relationships. Most notably, our results indicate that the two extant orders within the superorder Syncarida—Bathynellacea and Anaspidacea—are phylogenetically distant, supporting the polyphyly of Syncarida. This suggests that their shared morphological features (e.g., the absence of a carapace and the loss of the mandibular lacinia mobilis) are likely products of convergent evolution rather than common ancestry. Our study provides mitogenomic resources for Bathynellacea and underscores the necessity of mitogenomic evidence in reassessing the taxonomic status of subterranean crustacean lineages.