Adults in the Bombycidae family have reduced mouth parts and do not feed. The caterpillars feed on leaves of mulberry trees, with the preferred food being the white mulberry. Females have about twice to three times the bulk of males (for they are carrying many eggs), but are similarly colored. 2004), and with a wingspan of three to six centimeters (1.5 to 2.5 inches). The adult moth that emerges is heavy bodied, furry, rounded, whitish with pale brown lines (Grzimek et al. The cocoon may be white to yellow in color. In the process of producing a cocoon, the caterpillars manufacture an insoluble protein (fibroin) in their silk glands, mix it with a smaller amount of soluble gum, and secrete this mixture to yield a single, continuous silk fiber of some 300 to 900 meters (1000 to 3000 feet) long. Early instars (developmental stages of caterpillars) have tiny hairs but later instars are white, nude, and have a horn on the tail.

5 Scientific, medical, and culinary usesĬaterpillars of Bombyx mori are about four centimeters (1.5 inches) in length, with a pale brown coloration and brown marks on the thorax (Grzimek et al.

Sericulture is the term used for the culture of silkworms for silk production. For many years silk was a primary commodity traded by China with the West along the Silk Road, and the silk production process was a carefully guarded secret for thousands of years. Silk culture has been practiced for at least 5,000 years in China (Goldsmith et al. This article is on Bombyx mori, which is very important economically as the producer of silk and has been domesticated to the point that it is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and no longer occurs naturally in the wild. Antheraea pernyi, the Chinese tussah moth, is a major producer of another variety of wild silk (tussah silk). Samia cynthia, the ailanthus silkmoth, feeds on the leaves of the Ailanthus genus and produces a coarse silk, but one that is more durable and cheaper than mulberry silk. Other silk producers include two giant silkworms in the Saturnidae family, Samia cynthia and Antheraea pernyi. Bombyx mori (Latin: 'silkworm of the mulberry tree') of the Bombycidae family feeds solely on the leaves of mulberry trees and produces the finest, most lustrous fiber-the major source of commercial silk. Silkworm species vary in terms of the quality of silk they produce and the leaves they consume. Silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of various species of moths, in particular, Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkmoth, whose silk cocoons can be used in the production of silk.

Bombyx mori life cycle