The tomato looper or golden twin-spot moth (Chrysodeixis chalcites) is a moth of the family Noctuidae, subfamily Plusiinae. It mainly lives in southern Europe, the Levant and tropical Africa, but can be seen migrating across much of Europe. In 2013, it was spotted in Canada. It is an important horticultural pest in New Zealand. The length of the forewings is 15–18 mm. The moth flies from June to October. The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, such as Echium vulgare, Apium, Rubus, tomato, Fragaria and tobacco which is why it is perceived as a pest. Chrysodeixis chalcites and Chrysodeixis eriosoma moths cannot be separated morphologically and they may be sibling species. They are distinguished by DNA, pheromones and geographic origin, as C. chalcites is found in the palearctic and C. eriosoma in the tropics and subtropics. The literature referring to C. chalcites in southern and eastern Asia or Oceania may actually refer to C. eriosoma. Chrysodeixis chalcites larva.jpg|Larva
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 Chrysodeixis chalcites has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens76
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections3
Countries23
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus72 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 5 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)0.35%
Haplotypes7
BIN1
Most divergent pair0.91%
EuropeAfrica
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★ITS1
animal barcodefungal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type10 366 records
Wild obs. + sensor7 803
Museum / vouchered1 859
Other704
Origin
Native662
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO13 940 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 accuracy44% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 629≤1 km 1 090≤10 km 3 345>10 km 147
6 211 georeferenced · 1 592 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor7 803
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 accuracy8% within 1 km
≤100 m 33≤1 km 59≤10 km 996>10 km 7
1 095 georeferenced · 764 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 859
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 institutions19 of 42 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
579
UMUlocation not on record
477
Helsinki, FI
211
Zürich, CH
117
DanishLepidopterologicalSocietylocation not on record
87
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
29
SFRAlocation not on record
25
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
21
Nijmegen, NL
17
Bern, CH
16
Paro, BT
16
Mangilao, GU
11
Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record
10
Auckland, NZ
9
Sion, CH
9
Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record
7
Kuopio, FI
7
Tartu, EE
7
Glarus, CH
7
UAclocation not on record
6
NHMOlocation not on record
5
Geneva, CH
4
Durban Natural Science Museumlocation not on record
4
ZSMlocation not on record
4
Naturmuseum Solothurnlocation not on record
4
ZMAAlocation not on record
3
Dhaka, BD
3
Philadelphia, US
3
Radicondoli, IT
2
Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record
2
East Lansing, US
2
Uniwersytet Łódzkilocation not on record
2
John May Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
2
Winterthur, CH
2
Universität Zürich, Naturhistorisches Museumlocation not on record
2
Salzburg, AT
2
Naturmuseum Suedtirollocation not on record
2
Banyoles, ES
2
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record
2
Naturmuseum Oltenlocation not on record
1
DABUHlocation not on record
1
MZLUlocation not on record
1
42 institutions · 1 723 of 1 859 vouchered records shown · 134 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA3 detections
Where the DNA of Chrysodeixis chalcites 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 found3
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 3 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 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 median25.8 °C 25.1–26.4
Seasonal swing summer↔winter9.80 °C
Max temp (day)28.6 °C 27.6–29.6
Min temp (night)22.4 °C 19.7–25.1
Precipitation199 mm/mo 70.2–328
Air humidity58.4 % 54.4–62.5
Vapour deficit1,368 Pa 1,287–1,449
Cloud cover26.6 % 14.1–39.0
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 2 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 Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility10 366 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics76 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗