silkworm

The Caterpillars' Marvelous Transformation and Strange Floral Food by Maria Sibylla Merian

Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of silk, is at least 5,000 years old. It originated in China.
One Chinese legend states that the empress Laizu discovered silk when a cocoon fell into her teacup. She began to unravel the cocoon, discovering a larvae at the end of the very long filament of silk. When she realized the larvae was responsible for creating the thread, she taught this to her people, who developed the silk industry.

Basic Information

Dietary Needs and Habits

Bombyx mori feeds almost exclusively on morus alba, or the white mulberry, although they are known to eat osage orange.

Biological Cycle

Eggs hatch after about fourteen days, at which time the larva eats voraciously. After four moultings, the larva encloses itself in a cocoon comprised of a single thread of raw silk produced by the salivary gland. This thread can extend up to a mile in length. To prevent the adult moth from breaking the thread, the moth is killed by immersion in boiling water.
There are three types of domesticated silkworms, categorized according to their brood frequency. Univoltine, or one cycle per season, are found in Europe's cold climate. Bivoltine, two cycles per season, found in East Asia, a slightly warmer climate. Polyvoltine silkworms, found in the tropics, can produce up to eight generations of larvae in a year.

Civilization and Culture

History

Many legends surround silk and silkworms.
Silk and silkworms were brought out of China in the first century AD by a Chinese princess who smuggled silkworm eggs in her hair as part of her dowry. She did not want to be deprived of her prized fabric.
In the sixth century AD, Christian monks smuggled silkworms in a hollow stick and brought them to Byzantium.
Finally, King Roger II of Sicily is credited with introducing the silk industry to Europe. He kidnapped the silk weavers and their looms from Corinth and Thebes, the two centers of the Byzantine silk trade, in 1147. He brought them back to Sicily, where he set up silk production centers in Palermo and Calabria. Later, the silk trade spread throughout Europe.

Scientific Name

Bombyx mori