Since the three DpAV4 genes have relatives in all ascovirus and iridovirus genomes sequenced so far, their presence in the DpAV4 genome cannot result from a lateral transfer that occurred from an ichnovirus genome related GfIV to DpAV4. Thus, as these DpAV4 genes are the closest relatives of the pox-D5 gene family present in GfIV identified so far, they could be considered a landmark of the symbiogenic ascovirus origin of the ichnovirus lineage to which this polydnavirus belongs. An alternative explanation is that the presence of DpAV4-like genes in the genome of GfIV resulted from a lateral transfer from viral genomes closely related to those of GfIV and DpAV4.