Abstract: Among the effective techniques for exploring the phylogeny of arthropods,the comparison of the whole of mt genomes can provide useful information from two aspects for reconstructing phylogenetic relationships among arthropod groups,one is gene arrangement,and the other is DNA sequence.The number of complete mitochondrial genomes of arthropod species studied has been increased to 44.In this article we attempt to summarize the basic features of mt genome,the gene order,the occurrence of mt gene rearrangements and the mechanism of gene rearrangement of arthropods,etc.,and make a brief review for the recent progress and perspective in the researches of arthropod phylogeny based on mt genome.