Abstract: In order to obtain genetic data for Opisina arenosella, this study sequenced its transcriptome using high-throughput sequencing technology. In total, 37 416 unigenes were obtained. Their mean length was 803 bp with N50 of 1 415 bp. By BlastX search, a total of 19 154 unigenes were matched to the sequences in NCBI non-redundant protein sequences (Nr) database. They had the highest similarity(68.45%)to those of Danaus plexippus. In Gene Ontology (GO) database, 14 131 unigenes (37.76%) were assigned to 54 branches of 3 categories including cellular component, biological processes and molecular function. In Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins (COG) database, 8 606 unigenes were assigned to 26 categories. Additionally, 6 171 unigenes (16.49%) were mapped to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database, of which were divided into 260 known pathways of 5 metabolic pathways categories. In total, 3 248 microsatellites were identified from the transcriptome database.