First genome assemblies of Neotropical Thoracobombus bumblebees <i>Bombus pauloensis</i> and <i>Bombus pullatus</i>

Abstract

Bumblebees (Bombus) are considered to be essential pollinators of a wide range of flowering plants, within both agricultural and natural ecosystems. Bombus pauloensis and Bombus pullatus are 2 closely related Neotropical species with a wide altitudinal and latitudinal distribution that belong to the Thoracobombus genus. To the best of our knowledge, there is no genome assembly available for any species of Neotropical Bombus. Therefore, the goal of this study is to produce high-quality genomes of B. pauloensis and B. pullatus. In order to achieve this objective, we obtained long-read sequences using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies platform. We then proceeded to assemble the genomes and annotate these assemblies. As a result, we obtained assemblies of ∼240 Mb represented in 72 contigs with an N50 of ∼9.08 Mb for B. pullatus and ∼239 Mb represented in 66 contigs with an N50 of ∼9 Mb for B. pauloensis. The completeness evaluated by compleasm returned a score of >99% for both species. It is hoped that these genomes will facilitate a more profound comprehension of the biology of Neotropical bumblebees.