Abstract: Spilornis cheela (Aves,Falconiformes,Accipitridae) is considered as endemic raptor species and listed in the second category of National Key Protected Wild Animals in China.In an attempt to improve molecular knowledge about it,a complete mtDNA was sequenced in this study.The mtDNA is a circular molecule with 18 291 bp and consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs),22 tRNA genes,2 ribosomal RNA genes,1 control region (D-loop) and a pseudo-control region (ΨCR),which share the same arrangement with most of reported raptor species.The 37 genes are closely assembled one after the other.Only 59 bp (excluding control region 1 144 bp and pseudo-control region 1 532 bp) in intergenic spacers and 31 bp overlapped between several gene pairs.The nucleotide composition bias towards adenine and thymine with a content of A+T of whole genome is 53.02%.Furthermore,13 PCGs used ATN as the start codon,except for COⅠ start with GTG.Besides,ten of the thirteen PCGs are terminated with the common triplet stop codon TAA,AGG and TAG,the remainders are stopped with incomplete stop codon (T).The secondary structures of 22 tRNA were predicted,they can be fold in the typical cloverleaf structure described for vertebrate mitochdrial tRNAs,with the unique exception of tRNA-Ser(AGY).Three central conservative blocks (CSB-F,CSB-D and CSB-C) and a conservative sequence block (CSB-1) were located in the D-Loop.Additionally,a 48 bp tandem repeat was found at the 3' end of ΨCR,consisting of eight repeats.

Key words: Accipitridae, Spilornis cheela, mitochondrial genome