Genomics of the relict species Baronia brevicornis sheds light on its demographic history and genome size evolution across swallowtail butterflies.

Relict species, like coelacanth, gingko, tuatara, are the remnants of formerly more ecologically and taxonomically diverse lineages. It raises the questions of why they are currently species-poor, have restrained ecology, and are often vulnerable to extinction. Estimating heterozygosity level and demographic history can guide our understanding of the evolutionary history and conservation status of relict species.

Genomics, Population Divergence, and Historical Demography of the World's Largest and Endangered Butterfly, The Queen Alexandra's Birdwing.

The world's largest butterfly is the microendemic Papua New Guinean Ornithoptera alexandrae. Despite years of conservation efforts to protect its habitat and breed this up-to-28-cm butterfly, this species still figures as endangered in the IUCN Red List and is only known from two allopatric populations occupying a total of only ∼140 km². Here we aim at assembling reference genomes for this species to investigate its genomic diversity, historical demography and determine whether the population is structured, which could provide guidance for conservation programs attempting to (inter)breed the two populations.