Antheraea pernyi

Antheraea pernyi
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Mounted female
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Living specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Tribe:	Saturniini
Genus:	Antheraea
Species:	A. pernyi
Binomial name
Antheraea pernyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1855)
Synonyms
Antheraea hartii

Antheraea pernyi, the Chinese (oak) tussar moth (or "Chinese tasar moth"), also known as temperate tussar moth, is a large moth in the family Saturniidae. Antheraea roylei is an extremely close relative, and the present species might actually have evolved from ancestral A. roylei by chromosome rearrangement.

They are originally from southern China. Used for tussah silk (a wild silk) production, they have been distributed more widely across subtropical and tropical Asia. Unlike the domestic silkmoth which is entirely dependent on human care, tussah silkmoths can survive in the wild if they escape from captivity; small local populations of such feral stock may thus occasionally occur. The colour and quality of the silk depends on the climate and soil.

This is one of the major producers of tussah silk. It was of commercial importance during the Han Dynasty and early Three Kingdoms era, about 200 BC to 250 AD. More recently, the hybridogenic species Antheraea × proylei is being bred for tussah silk production. It originated from a natural hybrid between male A. pernyi and A. roylei females, F1 females of which were backcrossed to A. pernyi males. For reasons unknown, it is a case of paternal mtDNA transmission: the mitochondrial genome, normally inherited from the mother only in sexually reproducing organisms, is almost identical to that of the present species.

Immunity

The immune responses of A. pernyi to bacterial infection have been analyzed based on injection by Escherichia coli D31. Cecropin B and D, hemolin, attacin and lysozyme were detected in the hemolymph. Also, injection of E. coli led to the discovery of a 380-kDa lectin with affinity to galactose and resulted in an increase of hemagglutinating activity. A. pernyi has been used in research on virus defense in insects. It was discovered that hemolin was induced after injection of baculovirus, but also by double-stranded RNA.

Gallery

• Antheraea pernyi ova sjh.jpg

  Eggs one day before hatching

• Antheraea pernyi 1st instar 1 sjh.jpg

  First-instar caterpillars

• Antheraea pernyi 2nd instar 10 sjh.jpg

  Second-instar caterpillar

• Antheraea pernyi 3rd instar 3 sjh.jpg

  Third-instar caterpillar

• Antheraea pernyi 4th instar 2 sjh.jpg

  Fourth-instar caterpillar

• Antheraea pernyi 5th instar 1 sjh.jpg

  Fifth-instar caterpillars

• Antheraea pernyi 6th instar 6 sjh.JPG

  Sixth-instar caterpillar

• Antheraea pernyi 6th instar 5 sjh.JPG

  Sixth-instar caterpillar

References

• Arunkumar, K.P.; Metta, Muralidhar & Nagaraju, J. (2006): Molecular phylogeny of silkmoths reveals the origin of domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori from Chinese Bombyx mandarina and paternal inheritance of Antheraea proylei mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40(2): 419–427. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.023 (HTML abstract).
• North-Szigetváry, L. (1894): "The Japanese and Chinese Oak-Silk Spinner : Their Life and Cultivation (Attacus Jama-mâi and Bombyx Pernyi)." L. North-Szigetváry, of Newchwang. The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society. 1894. Vol. 10. Nos. 4–6 April to June, pp. 183–193.

Supplementary figure 1 (JPG) Supplementary figure 2 (JPG) Supplementary figure 3 (JPG)

External links

• Life Cycle Warning: Many images, may require a lot of bandwidth
• http://www.cdfd.org.in/wildsilkbase/info_moths.php