The common swift (Korscheltellus lupulina) is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It was previously placed in the genus Hepialus. It is a common, often abundant European species. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Mounted Caterpillar The male has a wingspan of about 30 mm with dark brown forewings with white apical and basal streaks meeting to make a "V" shape with another spot close to the costa. The hindwings are plain brown. The female is larger (wingspan about 40 mm) with similar patterning to the male but generally paler and less distinct. A significant proportion of individuals of both sexes are plain buff or brown with no pattern. The adults fly from May to July and are attracted to light. The species overwinters as a larva. The larvae feed underground on the roots of a wide variety of plants (see list below) and can be an agricultural pest. The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.
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 Korscheltellus lupulina has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens108
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections211
Countries11
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus100 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 2 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)0.27%
Haplotypes7
BIN1
Most divergent pair0.91%
N.AmericaEurope
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
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type136 280 records
Wild obs. + sensor133 770
Museum / vouchered2 506
Other4
Origin
Native1 090
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO59 024 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 accuracy13% within 1 km
≤100 m 14 286≤1 km 3 517≤10 km 113 888>10 km 264
131 955 georeferenced · 1 815 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor133 770
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 accuracy61% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 116≤1 km 176≤10 km 812>10 km 19
2 123 georeferenced · 383 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence2 506
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 45 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
DanishLepidopterologicalSocietylocation not on record
1 188
South Kensington, GB
243
Paro, BT
80
Zürich, CH
56
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
50
NMOKlocation not on record
42
Zoological Museum of the University of Chittagong, Bangladeshlocation not on record
33
New Haven, US
30
Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record
28
Frauenfeld, CH
28
Archäologie und Museum Baselland - Museum.BLlocation not on record
27
CBDClocation not on record
27
Tartu, EE
23
NCMGlocation not on record
21
SFRAlocation not on record
21
Bern, CH
17
Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausenlocation not on record
17
Podgorica, ME
16
Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiulocation not on record
12
Dhaka, BD
11
Nijmegen, NL
11
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
11
Philadelphia, US
11
DABUHlocation not on record
11
Naturéum — Muséum cantonal des sciences naturelles, Lausanne, Département Zoologielocation not on record
7
Kuopio, FI
7
NHMOlocation not on record
6
University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
6
Geneva, CH
6
MZLUlocation not on record
5
Tallinn, EE
5
Stockholm, SE
5
Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record
4
Naturama Aargaulocation not on record
4
Rovaniemi, FI
4
Bavarian State Collection of Zoologylocation not on record
3
Helsinki, FI
3
Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record
2
Naturmuseum St. Gallenlocation not on record
2
Research Collection of Bernard Dardennelocation not on record
2
Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
1
Toronto, CA
1
European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)location not on record
1
Cambridge, US
1
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
1
45 institutions · 2 090 of 2 506 vouchered records shown · 416 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA211 detections
Where the DNA of Korscheltellus lupulina 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 found211
Studies independent surveys5
Countries11
Verifiable raw sequence linked104
Signal confidence: moderateweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
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 median14.4 °C 11.2–18.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter18.4 °C
Max temp (day)18.6 °C 14.4–23.9
Min temp (night)10.6 °C 7.10–15.1
Precipitation73.4 mm/mo 40.7–95.5
Air humidity59.5 % 57.4–61.2
Moisture balance-44.2 mm/mo -88.5–-5.90
Vapour deficit673 Pa 529–859
Wind speed3.40 m/s 2.40–4.30
Cloud cover39.9 % 34.6–49.5
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 206 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 Foundation5 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility136 280 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI211 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics108 specimens↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗