Mell 1913 is a butterfly species unique to China, primarily found in forest canopies, and its mitochondrial genome has been sequenced, revealing a typical butterfly gene arrangement.
The mitochondrial genome comprises 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs, and 2 rRNAs, with notable aspects such as atypical start codons and completing stop codons inferred from the mRNA.
Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Mell 1913's mitogenome is closely related to other butterflies in the Coliadinae subfamily, supporting some previous molecular studies while challenging a morphology-based hypothesis on its relationships.