Antheraea yamamai
Introduction '''''Antheraea yamamai''''', the '''Japanese silk moth''' or '''Japanese oak silkmoth''' (Japanese:  or ) is a moth of the family Saturniidae. It is endemic to east Asia, but has been imported to Europe for tussar silk production and is now found in southeastern Europe, mainly in Austria, northeastern Italy, and the Balkans. It seems to be spreading north and a population has been reported near Deggendorf and Passau in Germany. The species was first described by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville in 1861.It has been hybridized artificially with ''Antheraea polyphemus'' of North America.Front view of a male specimenEggSecond-instar larvaCocoonThis moth has been cultivated in Japan for more than 1000 years. It produces a naturally white silk that is very strong and elastic, but does not dye well. It is now very rare and expensive.The wingspan is . Adults are on wing from August to September in one generation depending on the location.The larva mainly feed on ''Quercus'' species, but have also been reported on ''Fagus sylvatica'', ''Castanea sativa'', ''Carpinus'', ''Rosa'', and ''Crataegus''.In order to look at the tensan silk genes in more detail a ''de novo'' genome and set of transcriptomes have been sequenced, producing a 700Mb reference with 15,481 genes.
Subspecies *''Antheraea yamamai yamamai''*''Antheraea yamamai bergmani'' Bryk, 1949*''Antheraea yamamai titan'' Mell, 1958*''Antheraea yamamai ussuriensis'' Schachbazov, 1953*''Antheraea yamamai superba'' Inoue, 1964 (Taiwan)
References
External links * Taxonomy ''Fauna Europaea''* ''Lepiforum e.V. ''* ''Saturniidae of the Western Palaearctic''