Actias luna
Linnaeus, 1758 · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Actias luna's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation11 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility39 896 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI56 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics48 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The Luna moth (Actias luna) also known as the American moon moth is a Nearctic moth in the family Saturniidae, subfamily Saturniinae, a group commonly known as giant silk moths. It has lime-green colored wings and a white body. The larvae (caterpillars) are also green. Typically, it has a wingspan of roughly 114 mm, but can exceed 178 mm, making it one of the larger moths in North America. Across Canada, it has one generation per year, with the winged adults appearing in late May or early June, whereas farther south it will have two or even three generations per year, the first appearance as early as March in southern parts of the United States. As defense mechanisms, larvae emit clicks as a warning and can also regurgitate intestinal contents, confirmed as having a deterrent effect on a variety of predators. The elongated tails of the hindwings are thought to confuse the echolocation detection used by predatory bats. A parasitic fly deliberately introduced to North America to be a biological control for the invasive species spongy moth appears to have had a negative impact on Luna moths and other native moths.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
No structured trait data for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Actias luna has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Actias luna carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type39 896 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions28 of 47 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| New Haven, US | 230 |
| Toronto, CA | 157 |
| East Lansing, US | 138 |
| Georgia Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 124 |
| St. Paul, US | 74 |
| Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record | 72 |
| Cambridge, US | 52 |
| Philadelphia, US | 29 |
| Mississippi State, US | 29 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 23 |
| Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record | 23 |
| Paris, FR | 21 |
| UDlocation not on record | 21 |
| CUlocation not on record | 18 |
| Denver, US | 18 |
| King Saud Universitylocation not on record | 15 |
| Colorado State Universitylocation not on record | 15 |
| Saint John, CA | 13 |
| Washington, US | 9 |
| Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record | 7 |
| University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record | 7 |
| Chicago, US | 6 |
| Decorah, US | 6 |
| US | 5 |
| University of Alabamalocation not on record | 5 |
| SOVTlocation not on record | 5 |
| Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record | 5 |
| Ciudad de México, MX | 5 |
| University of Central Floridalocation not on record | 4 |
| OSUClocation not on record | 4 |
| University Park, US | 4 |
| Champaign, US | 4 |
| Auckland, NZ | 3 |
| Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record | 2 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 2 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 2 |
| Vancouver, CA | 2 |
| Zürich, CH | 2 |
| Vernal, US | 1 |
| Albuquerque, US | 1 |
| Awka, NG | 1 |
| San Francisco, US | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
| Abilene Christian University Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Hartland Nature Clublocation not on record | 1 |
| Tartu, EE | 1 |
| US | 1 |
Where the DNA of Actias luna was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.