 A surprising amount of variation occurs within this species.Color patterns can range from a reddish cinnamon to a dark brown, but are almost always a shade of brown.In the late 1950s, amateur lepidopterist Gary Botting hybridized the Polyphemus moth (then known as "Telea polyphemus") with "Antheraea yamamai" from Japan and, later, "Antheraea mylitta" from India by transferring the pheromone-producing scent sacs from female ""T. polyphemus"" to the "Antheraea" females and allowing "T. polyphemus" males to mate with them.