What is "polyphemus"

Polyphemus \Pol`y*phe"mus\, n. [L. Polyphemus the one-eyed Cyclops who was blinded by Ulysses.] (Zo["o]l.) A very large American moth ( Telea polyphemus) belonging to the Silkworm family ( Bombycid[ae]). Its larva, which is very large, bright green, with silvery tubercles, and with oblique white stripes on the sides, feeds on the oak, chestnut, willow, cherry, apple, and other trees. It produces a large amount of strong silk. Called also American silkworm.

name of a Cyclops ("Odyssey," IX), also used as the name for a one-eyed animal; the name is literally "many-voiced" or else "much-spoken-of" (see poly- + fame (n.)).

Polyphemus (; Polyphēmos) is the giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in the Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends". Polyphemus first appears as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of Homer's Odyssey. Some later Classical writers link his name with the nymph Galatea and present him in a different light.

Polyphemus is a collection of Science fiction, fantasy and horror stories by author Michael Shea. It was released in 1987 by Arkham House . It was published in an edition of 3,528 copies and was the author's first hardcover book. Most of the stories originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

In Greek mythology, Polyphemus was the son of Elatus (or Poseidon) and Hippea. According to one source, he was married to Laonome, sister of Heracles. As a Lapith, he was remembered for having fought against the Centaurs in the days of his youth. Years later, he joined the expedition of the Argonauts. During their stay in Bithynia, Polyphemus was the one to hear Hylas cry as the youth was being dragged away by the nymphs, and when he helped Heracles search for Hylas, both were left behind by the Argo. Having settled in Mysia, Polyphemus founded the city Cius of which he became king. Later, however, he set out to search for his fellow Argonauts and died in the land of the Chalybes. He was buried at the seashore under a poplar tree.

In Iliad I, Nestor numbers "the godlike Polyphemus" among an earlier generation of heroes of his youth, "the strongest men that Earth has bred, the strongest men against the strongest enemies, a savage mountain-dwelling tribe whom they utterly destroyed." No trace of such an oral tradition, which Homer's listeners would have recognized in Nestor's allusion, survived in literary epic.

Polyphemus is a genus of water fleas, and the only genus in the family Polyphemidae. There are two species, P. exiguus and P. pediculus, although allopatric speciation has resulted in a number of cryptic species of P. pediculus. Polyphemus exiguus inhabits open zones in the Caspian Sea, while Polyphemus pediculus exists throughout the Holarctic. It lives in diverse conditions, from small ponds to lakes and estuaries such as the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Gulf of Finland. It can be found quite far offshore.

Polyphemus are a predatory genus of water flea. The two species have four pairs of legs with exopodites, or outer branches. The legs are adapted for catching mobile prey, generally smaller species of water flea such as young Daphnia and Bosmina.

Polyphemus has two compound eyes that are fused to form a single unit, with a zoned set of receptors. This zoned structure is paired with an eye-control system that allows the Polyphemus to visually distinguish target size to avoid predators and track prey. P. pediculus is approximately in length. P. exiguus, while similar in morphology, is smaller.

Polyphemus is a cyclops in Greek mythology. The name "Polyphemus" may also refer to:

• Polyphemus (Argonaut), another figure from Greek mythology
• Polyphemus Moth, a large North American moth
• Polyphemus (genus), a genus of cladocerans
• Limulus polyphemus, the Atlantic horseshoe crab
• Polyphemus (book), a collection of short stories by Michael Shea