Antheraea polyphemus, the Polyphemus moth, is a North American member of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths. It is a tan-colored moth, with an average wingspan of 15 cm (6 in). The most notable feature of the moth is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hindwings. The eyespots give it its name – from the Greek myth of the cyclops Polyphemus. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. The species is widespread in continental North America, with local populations found throughout subarctic Canada and the United States. The caterpillar can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months.
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 Antheraea polyphemus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens90
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections88
Countries3
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus84 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. 99% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 8 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)0.42%
Haplotypes18
BIN1
Most divergent pair1.2%
N.America
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-5P★ITS
animal barcodefungal barcode
Organelle genome
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.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualAntheraea polyphemus 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
Genome size528 120 000 bp
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).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Antheraea polyphemus0.53 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy81% within 1 km
≤100 m 25 892≤1 km 4 820≤10 km 2 807>10 km 4 210
37 729 georeferenced · 5 630 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor43 359
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 accuracy43% within 1 km
≤100 m 180≤1 km 247≤10 km 471>10 km 106
1 004 georeferenced · 526 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 530
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 institutions28 of 56 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Toronto, CA
217
New Haven, US
215
St. Paul, US
110
East Lansing, US
108
Georgia Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
89
Colorado State Universitylocation not on record
73
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, OH (CLEV)location not on record
65
University of Alberta Museums (UAM)location not on record
65
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
51
ASUlocation not on record
48
Denver, US
41
Vancouver, CA
39
Vernal, US
36
Philadelphia, US
35
Royal Saskatchewan Museumlocation not on record
35
Cambridge, US
32
San Francisco, US
23
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
22
Saint John, CA
19
King Saud Universitylocation not on record
19
University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
18
Chicago, US
10
CUlocation not on record
10
UDlocation not on record
9
University of Central Floridalocation not on record
8
University of Alabamalocation not on record
6
Brussels, BE
6
Decorah, US
6
Mississippi State, US
6
Washington, US
5
Edmonton, CA
5
US
4
Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record
4
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
4
Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
4
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
4
Awka, NG
3
WWUlocation not on record
3
Hartland Nature Clublocation not on record
3
Espace pour la vielocation not on record
3
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
3
WIlocation not on record
2
National Institute of Biological Resourceslocation not on record
2
OSUClocation not on record
2
Auckland, NZ
2
University Park, US
2
SOVTlocation not on record
2
Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM)location not on record
1
University of California, Davislocation not on record
1
Denton, US
1
München, DE
1
Lubbock, US
1
Albuquerque, US
1
Champaign, US
1
US
1
Chicago, US
1
56 institutions · 1 487 of 1 530 vouchered records shown · 43 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA88 detections
Where the DNA of Antheraea polyphemus 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 found88
Studies independent surveys1
Countries3
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 88 detections have coordinates
Open the map3 countries0
Temperate mixed forestLakeMVL & UV LED sheets at edge of open grassy a…Forest
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 median16.9 °C 12.9–25.0
Seasonal swing summer↔winter23.6 °C
Max temp (day)22.1 °C 18.4–31.0
Min temp (night)12.1 °C 8.10–19.9
Precipitation95.1 mm/mo 54.9–159
Air humidity59.8 % 53.2–63.5
Moisture balance-37.3 mm/mo -71.7–18.5
Vapour deficit784 Pa 604–1,371
Wind speed2.60 m/s 1.80–4.30
Cloud cover39.0 % 20.8–50.0
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 63 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 Foundation4 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility44 889 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI88 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics90 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗