The Spanish fly (Lytta vesicatoria) is an aposematic emerald-green beetle in the blister beetle family (Meloidae). It is distributed across Eurasia. The species and others in its family were used in traditional apothecary preparations as "Cantharides". The insect is the source of the terpenoid cantharidin, a toxic blistering agent once used as an aphrodisiac. The substance has also found culinary use in some blends of the North African spice mix ras el hanout. Its various supposed benefits have been responsible for accidental poisonings.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Lytta vesicatoria across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Documented compounds1 total
Compound
Class
Amount
Source
Cantharidin
present
LOTUS
05DNA & barcoding9 specimens
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 Lytta vesicatoria has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens9
BINs2
Marker genes3
eDNA detections9
Countries4
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P639 bp consensus5 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. 94% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 41 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)2.9%
Haplotypes3
BINs2
Most divergent pair1.6%
EuropeOther
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-5P18S-5P
animal barcoderibosomal
07Deep time~93.5 Ma lineage
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
DNA clock origin93.5 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard periods (Jurassic, Cretaceous…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. 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.
DNA clock originmass extinction
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type3 418 records
Wild obs. + sensor2 285
Museum / vouchered1 083
Fossil4
Other46
Origin
Native398
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO7 680 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 accuracy66% within 1 km
≤100 m 890≤1 km 246≤10 km 531>10 km 58
1 725 georeferenced · 560 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor2 285
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 accuracy10% within 1 km
≤100 m 1≤1 km 100≤10 km 866>10 km 85
1 052 georeferenced · 31 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 083
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 institutions15 of 37 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Bern, CH
207
Paro, BT
106
Naturéum — Muséum cantonal des sciences naturelles, Lausanne, Département Zoologielocation not on record
74
MZLUlocation not on record
70
Vitoria, ES
58
Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record
48
Dhaka, BD
47
Zürich, CH
40
Geneva, CH
38
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
30
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
29
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
26
NTNU-VMlocation not on record
17
Sion, CH
16
Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record
15
Fribourg, CH
15
Helsinki, FI
13
Archäologie und Museum Baselland - Museum.BLlocation not on record
10
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
10
Tartu, EE
9
NMOKlocation not on record
8
SFRAlocation not on record
6
Philadelphia, US
6
Naturmuseum Solothurnlocation not on record
6
Musée de l'Hospice du Grand-Saint-Bernardlocation not on record
6
MSNMlocation not on record
4
Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record
3
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record
3
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
2
Paris, FR
2
Laboratorium voor Microbiologie der Landbouwhogeschoollocation not on record
2
CBDClocation not on record
1
Cape Town, ZA
1
Tilburg, NL
1
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record
1
South Kensington, GB
1
Ugentlocation not on record
1
37 institutions · 932 of 1 083 vouchered records shown · 150 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA9 detections
Where the DNA of Lytta vesicatoria 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 found9
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 9 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 median15.6 °C 9.70–21.5
Seasonal swing summer↔winter19.1 °C
Max temp (day)19.7 °C 13.4–26.0
Min temp (night)10.6 °C 5.60–15.6
Precipitation57.4 mm/mo 57.2–57.6
Air humidity57.9 % 54.4–61.4
Moisture balance-71.9 mm/mo -122–-22.0
Vapour deficit892 Pa 555–1,228
Wind speed4.10 m/s 3.60–4.70
Cloud cover39.2 % 37.2–41.2
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 Foundation16 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility3 418 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI9 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics9 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗