Aglia tau, the tau emperor, is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It is found in Europe and across Central Asia to the Pacific coast. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. The wingspan is 60–84 mm. The moth flies in one generation from March to July depending on the location. The larvae primarily feed on European beech, but also birch, Alnus glutinosa, Salix caprea and Sorbus aucuparia. The larvae look rather like hickory horned devil caterpillars in the early instar 4th instar of the larva of the tau emperor Male, ventral view
No narrative description available 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 Aglia tau has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens52
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections51
Countries15
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus48 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 100% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 3 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.25%
Haplotypes15
BIN1
Most divergent pair1.8%
EuropeAsiaOther
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ 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.
★COI-3P★COI-5P
animal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type32 304 records
Wild obs. + sensor27 795
Museum / vouchered3 983
Other526
Origin
Native4 049
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO43 880 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy50% within 1 km
≤100 m 7 706≤1 km 5 066≤10 km 12 558>10 km 251
25 581 georeferenced · 2 214 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor27 795
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.
Coordinate accuracy52% within 1 km
≤100 m 442≤1 km 1 450≤10 km 1 645>10 km 106
3 643 georeferenced · 340 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence3 983
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions22 of 62 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
993
DanishLepidopterologicalSocietylocation not on record
388
Zürich, CH
184
Salzburg, AT
94
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
91
Tartu, EE
70
Helsinki, FI
64
Frauenfeld, CH
62
Jyväskylä, FI
58
Paro, BT
51
Philadelphia, US
50
Dhaka, BD
48
NMOKlocation not on record
47
ZMAAlocation not on record
47
Uniwersytet Łódzkilocation not on record
41
Archäologie und Museum Baselland - Museum.BLlocation not on record
40
Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record
40
NHMOlocation not on record
40
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
33
Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausenlocation not on record
29
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
29
Kuopio, FI
26
Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record
25
Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiulocation not on record
23
Nijmegen, NL
20
New Haven, US
17
Bern, CH
15
Tallinn, EE
14
EGBlocation not on record
13
Naturéum — Muséum cantonal des sciences naturelles, Lausanne, Département Zoologielocation not on record
13
Laboratorium voor Microbiologie der Landbouwhogeschoollocation not on record
12
Geneva, CH
12
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record
11
Podgorica, ME
11
NTNU-VMlocation not on record
9
Kushiro City Museumlocation not on record
7
MZLUlocation not on record
7
Tomioka, JP
7
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record
7
Denver, US
6
State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukrainelocation not on record
6
Naturmuseum St. Gallenlocation not on record
6
Naturmuseum Oltenlocation not on record
6
John May Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
5
ZSMlocation not on record
5
SFRAlocation not on record
4
HUNMlocation not on record
3
NMBU:MINAlocation not on record
3
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
3
NMMElocation not on record
2
KSTRlocation not on record
2
Bando, JP
2
Chiba, JP
2
European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)location not on record
2
Metsähallituslocation not on record
2
DABUHlocation not on record
2
Tromsø, NO
1
Bavarian State Collection of Zoologylocation not on record
1
Ugentlocation not on record
1
Research Collection of Stefan Naumannlocation not on record
1
Brussels, BE
1
BioFokuslocation not on record
1
62 institutions · 2 815 of 3 983 vouchered records shown · 1 168 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA51 detections
Where the DNA of Aglia tau 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
Detections DNA found51
Studies independent surveys2
Countries15
Verifiable raw sequence linked1
Signal confidence: moderateweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 51 detections have coordinates
Open the map15 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median12.5 °C 7.60–19.3
Seasonal swing summer↔winter19.7 °C
Max temp (day)17.3 °C 10.9–23.0
Min temp (night)6.80 °C 2.70–14.3
Precipitation76.5 mm/mo 44.0–145
Air humidity58.9 % 55.2–64.5
Moisture balance-27.4 mm/mo -61.0–43.1
Vapour deficit601 Pa 411–916
Wind speed2.80 m/s 1.80–4.20
Cloud cover39.1 % 35.2–46.6
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 42 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
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.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility32 304 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI51 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics52 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗