The Updated Genome of the Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, a Model Species for Evolutionary and Genetic Studies of Parental Care

Understanding the evolution of social behavior requires establishing links between genomes and social phenotypes. High quality genomic resources from a diverse set of social species are required for both broad scale comparative genomic analyses and targeted functional genomic experiments and are therefore crucial for this goal. Here, we report on an updated genome for the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, an evolutionary and genomic model species for social behavior and parental care. The new assembly used PacBio sequencing reads and long read assemblers. This version of the genome greatly improves the continuity of the assembly and added new annotations, particularly lncRNA's. These updates will allow this resource to continue to be useful for newer functional genomic techniques. This improved assembly will also keep N. vespilloides a valuable comparative genomic resource. Updating genomic resources will continue to allow the field to make discoveries about the evolution of complex phenotypes, such as parental care.