[7] The genus name Alphapithovirus, a reference to large storage containers of ancient Greece known as pithoi, was chosen to describe the new species.

[2] The genome of Alphapithovirus contains 467 distinct genes, more than a typical virus, but far fewer than the 2556 putative protein-coding sequences found in Pandoravirus.

Despite the physical similarity with Pandoravirus, the Alphapithovirus genome sequence reveals that it is barely related to that virus, but more closely resembles members of Marseilleviridae, Megaviridae, and Iridoviridae.

[12] The Alphapithovirus genome is one circular, double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) chromosome of about 610,000 base pairs (bp), encoding approximately 467 open reading frames (ORFs), which translate into 467 different proteins.

[10] Viral entry is initiated by attachment of virions to cells, leading to internalization, and uncoating to release genetic material for replication and propagation.

[2][10][14] Alphapithovirus sibericum was discovered in a 30,000-year-old sample of Siberian permafrost by Chantal Abergel and Jean-Michel Claverie of Aix-Marseille University.

The authors said they got the idea to probe permafrost samples for new viruses after reading about an experiment that revived a similar aged seed of Silene stenophylla two years earlier.