Antheraea pernyi

Antheraea pernyi
Mounted female
Living specimen
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Saturniidae
Genus:	Antheraea
Species:	A. pernyi
Binomial name
Antheraea pernyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1855)
Synonyms
Antheraea hartii Moore, 1892

Antheraea pernyi, the Chinese oak tussar moth, Chinese tasar moth or temperate tussar moth, is a large moth in the family Saturniidae. The species was first described by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville in 1855. Antheraea roylei is an extremely close relative, and the present species might actually have evolved from ancestral A. roylei by chromosome rearrangement.^[1][2]

They are originally from southern China. Used for tussar silk production, they have been distributed more widely across subtropical and tropical Asia. Unlike the domestic silk moth which is entirely dependent on human care, tussah silk moths 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.^[3]

This is one of the major producers of tussar silk.^[4] 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.^[1]

This silkworm is raised in China for its silk. It is referred to as tussah, Chinese tussah, oak tussah, or temperate tussah. It is the source of tussah spinning fiber that is used in the West. It is a relative of the tropical tussah silk moth, Antheraea paphia of India, and also related to Antheraea polyphemus, the American polyphemus silk moth. In China, they are fed on plantations of specially trimmed oak trees on the hillsides.^[5]