Oncopeltus fasciatus, known as the large milkweed bug, is a medium-sized hemipteran (true bug) of the family Lygaeidae.Attisano, A. (2013) Oosorption and migratory strategy of the milkweed bug,Oncopeltus fasciatus. Animal Behaviour 86(3):651-657. It is distributed throughout North America, from Central America through Mexico and the Caribbean to southern areas in Canada. Costa Rica represents this insect's southern limit.Baldiwn, D.J., Dingle, H. (1986) Geographic variation in the effects of temperature on life history traits in the large milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus. Oecologia 69(1): 64-71. It inhabits disturbed areas, roadsides, and open pastures.Dingle, H., Palmer, J.O., Leslie, J.F. (1986) Behaviour genetics of flexible life histories in milkweed bugs (Onceopeltus fasciatus). Evolutionary Genetics of Invertebrate Behavior. New York: Plenum Press. Due to this widespread geographic distribution, this insect exhibits varying life history trade-offs depending on the population location, including differences in wing length and other traits based on location.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Oncopeltus fasciatus across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile1 class
Ecdysteroids3
Documented compounds3 total
Compound
Class
Amount
Source
20-Hydroxyecdysone
present
LOTUS
Ecdysone
present
LOTUS
Makisterone A
present
LOTUS
05DNA & barcoding28 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 Oncopeltus fasciatus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens28
BINs1
Marker genes2
eDNA detections28
Countries3
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P649 bp consensus18 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. 98% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 11 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%
Haplotypes5
BIN1
Most divergent pair1.1%
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-5P18S-5P
animal barcoderibosomal
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualOncopeltus fasciatus 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 size5 281 200 000 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
HUMAN3.2 Gb
THIS GENOME Oncopeltus fasciatus5.28 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.
Chromosomes2n = 16 n = 8
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelScaffold
Completeness96.3% BUSCO
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type50 482 records
Wild obs. + sensor49 864
Museum / vouchered618
Origin
Native1
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO81 884 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 accuracy87% within 1 km
≤100 m 30 147≤1 km 5 860≤10 km 1 710>10 km 3 804
41 521 georeferenced · 8 343 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor49 864
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 accuracy34% within 1 km
≤100 m 25≤1 km 84≤10 km 170>10 km 39
318 georeferenced · 300 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence618
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 institutions24 of 40 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Mississippi State, US
97
Denver, US
88
Champaign, US
74
University Park, US
51
US
41
University of Guelphlocation not on record
34
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
27
San Francisco, US
24
US
17
University of Central Floridalocation not on record
15
College Station, US
14
Mexico City, MX
13
Decorah, US
12
Instituto de Fitosanidad, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillolocation not on record
12
San Diego, US
8
North Carolina State University Insect Museumlocation not on record
7
Natural History Museum of Utahlocation not on record
7
Ciudad de México, MX
6
New Haven, US
6
UDlocation not on record
6
California Department of Food and Agriculture, California State Collection of Arthropodslocation not on record
5
Chicago, US
4
University of Guelph, Centre for Biodiversity Genomicslocation not on record
4
Albuquerque, US
3
Durango, MX
3
OSUClocation not on record
2
Cornell University Insect Collectionlocation not on record
2
Wuzhou, CN
2
Lubbock, US
1
CUlocation not on record
1
Riverside, US
1
Cambridge, US
1
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
1
Chicago, US
1
Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR)location not on record
1
The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record
1
Essig Museum of Entomologylocation not on record
1
Los Angeles, US
1
San Luis Potosí, MX
1
Philadelphia, US
1
40 institutions · 596 of 618 vouchered records shown · 22 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA28 detections
Where the DNA of Oncopeltus fasciatus 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 found28
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 28 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
Grassland
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 median20.2 °C 10.7–23.2
Seasonal swing summer↔winter25.4 °C
Max temp (day)23.0 °C 14.4–29.4
Min temp (night)16.7 °C 8.40–18.1
Precipitation89.9 mm/mo 51.4–98.6
Air humidity59.3 % 56.7–60.1
Moisture balance2.00 mm/mo -82.2–28.1
Vapour deficit790 Pa 524–1,231
Wind speed3.20 m/s 2.50–5.00
Cloud cover41.9 % 23.1–54.4
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 17 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 Foundation6 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility50 482 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI28 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics28 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗