Female Attacus atlas respond electrophysiologically to both of the Antheraea polyphemus pheromone components (E,Z)-6,11-hexadecadienyl acetate and (E,Z)-6,11-hexadecadienal. Moreover, they possess a pheromone-binding protein (PBP) and general odorant-binding proteins (GOBPs), as well as a pheromone-degrading sensillar esterase and aldehyde oxidase enzymes. They show no electroantennogram respon...

Molecular phylogeny of some of the economically important silkmoths was derived using three mitochondrial genes, 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and COI, and the control region (CR). Maximum likelihood (ML) analyses showed two distinct clades, one consisting of moths from Bombycidae family and the other from Saturniidae family. The mitochondrial CR showed length polymorphisms with indels. The ML analyses f...

Sericulture is one of the great inventions of the ancient Chinese. Besides the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori), Chinese farmers developed rearing of the Chinese oak silkworm (Antheraea pernyi) about 400 years ago. In this paper, the historic records of the origins and dispersal of the domesticated Chinese oak silkworm in China are summarized. The first document with clearly recorded oak silkwor...

The tropical tasarculture in India involve two and half lakh aboriginal families to produce vanya (tasar) silk by growing wild silk-insect as their cultural heritage and livelihood. However, the inadequacy in tasar commercial egg (on-time to match crop seasons) and quality, often results to uncertainty of silkworm rearing, hampering the crop economics and intensification of tasar industry. To o...

Females of the uncommon Antheraea compta Rothschild, 1899 were collected at natural habitat in Tibetan Sub-Himalayas, descendants which reared on Quercus yunnanensis (Fagaceae) successfully, with all preimaginal instars recorded morphologically. Correlated characters revealed a close relationship between this taxon and New World spp., suggesting more attention protection towards key species is ...

Female moths produce blends of odorant chemicals, called pheromones. These precise chemical mixtures both attract males and elicit appropriate mating behaviors. To locate females, male moths must rapidly detect changes in environmental pheromone concentration. Therefore, the regulation of pheromone concentration within antennae, their chief organ of smell, is important. We describe antennal-spe...