Silkworm description. Silkworm or silkworm

Description

Relatively large butterfly with a wingspan of 40 - 60 mm. The color of the wings is off-white with more or less distinct brownish bands. Forewings with notch on outer margin behind apex. The antennae of the male are strongly pectinate, the females are pectinate. Silkworm butterflies, in fact, have practically lost the ability to fly. Females are especially inactive. Butterflies have underdeveloped mouthparts and do not feed throughout their lives (aphagia).

Life cycle

Silkworm It is represented by monovoltine (gives one generation a year), bivoltine (gives two generations a year) and polyvoltine (gives several generations a year) breeds.

Egg

After mating, the female lays eggs (500 to 700 on average), the so-called grena. Grena has an oval (elliptical) shape, flattened laterally, somewhat thicker at one pole; soon after its deposition, one depression appears on both flattened sides. At the thinner pole there is a rather significant depression, in the middle of which there is a tubercle, and in the center of it there is a hole - a micropyle, designed for the passage of the seed thread. The grain size is about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, but it varies considerably depending on the breed. In general, breeds of European, Asia Minor, Central Asian and Persian give a larger gren than Chinese and Japanese. Egg laying can last up to three days. Diapause in the silkworm falls on the egg stage. Diapausing eggs develop in the spring of the following year, while non-diapausing eggs develop the same year.

Caterpillar

A caterpillar comes out of the egg (so-called silkworm), which grows rapidly and molts four times. After the caterpillar has gone through four molts, its body becomes slightly yellow. The caterpillar develops within 26 - 32 days. The duration of development depends on the temperature and humidity of the air, the quantity and quality of food, etc. The caterpillar feeds exclusively on mulberry (tree) leaves. Therefore, the spread of sericulture is associated with the places of growth mulberry tree(mulberries).

While pupating, the caterpillar weaves a cocoon, the shell of which consists of a continuous silk thread ranging in length from 300-900 meters to 1,500 m in the largest cocoons. In the cocoon, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. The color of the cocoon can be different: pinkish, greenish, yellow, etc. But for the needs of industry, only silkworm breeds with white cocoons are currently bred.

The release of butterflies from cocoons usually occurs on the 15-18th day after pupation. But the silkworm is not allowed to survive to this stage - the cocoons are kept for 2-2.5 hours at a temperature of about 100 ° C, which kills the caterpillar and simplifies the unwinding of the cocoon.

Human use

Sericulture

Sericulture- breeding of silkworms to obtain silk. According to Confucian texts, silk production using the silkworm began around the 27th century BC. e. , although archaeological research allows us to talk about the Yangshao period (5000 BC). In the first half of the 1st century A.D. e. sericulture came to ancient Khotan, and at the end of the 3rd century came to India. It was later introduced to Europe, the Mediterranean and other Asian countries. Sericulture has become important in a number of countries such as China, Republic of Korea, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia, Italy and France. Today, China and India are the two main producers of silk, accounting for about 60% of the world's annual production.

Other uses

In China and Korea, fried silkworm pupae are eaten.

Dried caterpillars infected with a fungus Beauveria bassiana used in Chinese traditional medicine.

Silkworm in art

• In 2004, the famous multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and leader of his own group Oleg Sakmarov wrote a song called "Silkworm".
• In 2006 Flëur released a song called "Silkworm".
• In 2007, Oleg Sakmarov released the album "Silkworm".
• In 2009, the Melnitsa group released the Wild Herbs album, on which a song called Silkworm sounds.

Notes

domesticated animals
Homemade
Exhibition
farm animals
mammals
Birds
Insects

Categories:

• Animals alphabetically
• Animals described in 1758
• real silkworms
• farm animals
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Synonyms:

See what "Mulberry silkworm" is in other dictionaries:

- (Votbuh mori), this butterfly. real silkworms (Bombycidae). Wingspan 40-60 mm, whitish. The body is massive. According to the number of generations per year, monovoltine (one), bivoltine (two), and polyvoltine (many) breeds of T. sh. Wintering... ... Biological encyclopedic dictionary

Silkworm, silkworm Dictionary of Russian synonyms. silkworm n., number of synonyms: 2 silkworm (2) ... Synonym dictionary

Butterfly of the true silkworm family. Not known in the wild; domesticated in China c. 3 thousand years BC e. to get silk. Bred in many countries, mainly in the East., Wed. and Yuzh. Asia. A close view of the wild silkworm lives in ... ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

Butterfly. Caterpillar T. sh. called a silkworm, feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree, curls a silk-rich cocoon, for the sake of getting a horn and gets divorced. Silkworm (: 21/2): 1 caterpillar; 2 dolls; 3 cocoon; 4 female laying eggs. ... ... Agricultural dictionary-reference book

Butterfly of the true silkworm family. Wingspan 4 6 cm, massive body. It feeds (caterpillar) on mulberry leaves. Not known in the wild; domesticated in China around 3000 BC. e. to get silk. Bred in many countries, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Bombyx mori) butterfly of the family Bombycidae. Wingspan 4 6 cm; has an underdeveloped mouth apparatus and does not feed. Caterpillar G. sh. feeds on mulberry leaves (See Mulberry) (or mulberry tree); inferior substitutes for it ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Bombyx mori (silkworm, silk moth) silkworm, silkworm. Lepidoptera insect , one of the first domesticated species (domesticated in China over 4000 years ago as a producer of valuable silk fiber ... ... Molecular biology and genetics. Dictionary.

- (Bombyx s. Sericaria mori) a butterfly belonging to the silkworm family (Bombycidae) and bred for the silk that is obtained from its cocoons. The body of this butterfly is covered with dense fluff, the antennae are rather short, comb-like; wings are small... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Silkworm - very interesting insect, which has long been known to man as source of silk. According to some data mentioned in Chinese chronicles, the insect became known as early as 2600 BC. The process of obtaining silk for centuries in China was a state secret, and silk became one of the clear trade advantages.

Starting from the 13th century, other countries, including Spain, Italy, and North African countries, mastered the technology of silk production. In the 16th century, technology reached Russia.

Now the silkworm is actively bred in many countries, and in Korea and China it is used not only to obtain silk, but also for food. Exotic dishes that are prepared from it are distinguished by originality, and silkworm larvae are used for the needs of traditional medicine.

India and China are leaders in the production of silk, and it is in these countries that the number of silkworms is the largest.

What does a silkworm look like

This insect earned its unusual name thanks to the tree that it feeds on. Mulberry - a tree, which is also called mulberry, is the only source of food for the silkworm.

silkworm caterpillar eats a tree day and night, which can even lead to its death if the caterpillars occupy such trees on the farm. For the production of silk on an industrial scale, these trees are grown specifically for feeding insects.

The silkworm goes through the following life cycles:

The silkworm butterfly is a large insect, and its wingspan reaches 6 centimeters. She has white color with black spots, on the wings, in front of them, there are notches. Pronounced comb mustache distinguish males from females, in which such an effect is almost imperceptible.

The butterfly has practically lost the ability to fly, and modern individuals spend their entire lives without rising into the sky. This led to their very long content in unnatural living conditions. Moreover, according to available facts, insects stop eating after turning into butterflies.

The silkworm acquired such strange features due to keeping it at home for many centuries. This has led to now the insect cannot survive without human care.

The silkworm over the years of its breeding has managed to be reborn into two main species: monovoltine and polyvoltine. The first species lays larvae once a year, and the second - up to several times a year.

Hybrid silkworm individuals can have many differences in terms of such traits as:

• body shape;
• wing color;
• dimensions and general shape of the butterfly;
• pupa dimensions;
• color and shape of caterpillars.

The larvae or eggs of this butterfly in the scientific community are called Grena. They have an oval shape flattened laterally, with elastic transparent film. The dimensions of one egg are so small that for one gram of weight their number can reach two thousand pieces.

Immediately after the butterfly lays eggs, they have a light milky color or yellowish color. As time passes, changes occur, leading to the appearance of a pink tint in the larvae, and then to complete change colors to purple. If the color of the eggs does not change over time, then the larvae have died.

Silkworm eggs have a fairly long maturation period. He puts them in summer months: in July and August, and then they winter until spring. The processes taking place in them at this time slow down significantly in order to survive the impact of low winter temperatures.

If grena hibernates at temperatures not lower than +15 degrees, then there is a risk of poor development in future caterpillars, so in winter you need provide for grena optimal temperature regime. Caterpillars appear before the leaves have time to grow on the trees, so grena is stored in refrigeration units at a temperature of 0 to -2 degrees throughout this period.

The caterpillars of this butterfly are also called silkworms, which cannot be considered a scientific name. Externally, silkworm caterpillars look like this:

Immediately after birth, the caterpillar has a very small size and a weight not exceeding half of one milligram. Despite such dimensions, all biological processes in the caterpillar proceed normally, and it begins to actively develop and grow.

The caterpillar has very developed jaws, pharynx and esophagus, so that all food consumed is very quickly and well absorbed. Each such small caterpillar has over 8,000 muscles, which allows it to bend in intricate poses.

In forty days, the caterpillar grows to a size of thirty once again greater than its original dimensions. During the growth period, she sheds her skin, which for natural reasons becomes small for her. This is called a molt.

During molting, the silkworm caterpillar stops eating tree leaves and finds a separate place for itself, usually under the leaves, where, firmly attaching to them with legs, it freezes for some period. This period is also called the sleep of the caterpillar.

With the advent of time, the head of the renewed caterpillar begins to break through from the old skin, then it comes out all in its entirety. At this time, you can not touch them. This can lead to the fact that the caterpillar simply does not have time to throw off the old skin and die. A caterpillar molts four times in its life.

An intermediate stage in the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is a cocoon. Caterpillar creates a cocoon around itself and inside it turns into a butterfly. These cocoons are of the greatest interest to humans.

The moment when a butterfly should be born and leave its cocoon is very easy to determine - it starts to move literally a day before, and you can hear light tapping inside. This knock appears because at this time the already ripe butterfly is trying to free itself from the skin of the caterpillar. It is curious that the time of the appearance of the silkworm butterfly into the world is always the same - from five to six in the morning.

A special glue-like liquid secreted by butterflies helps them break free from the cocoon.

The life of a moth is limited to only twenty days, and sometimes they do not even live up to 18 days. At the same time, it is possible meet among them centenarians who live for 25 and even 30 days.

Due to the fact that the jaws and mouth of butterflies do not have sufficient development, they cannot eat. The main task of the butterfly is to continue the genus and for its short life they have time to lay many eggs. In one laying, the female silkworm can lay up to a thousand of them.

It is noteworthy that even if the insect loses its head, egg laying process will not be interrupted. The body of a butterfly has several nervous systems, which allows her to continue laying and live for a long time, even in the absence of such a significant part of the body as the head.

China - amazing country filled with myths and legends. According to one of the ancient legends, the wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor taught her people to weave and extract silk from the silkworm. It is not known how much this legend can be believed, but to this day China is breeding this butterfly.

What does it look like

This is a fairly large butterfly with a wingspan of up to 60 mm, which has unique individual characteristics. For example, in the process of evolution and domestication, it lost the ability to eat and acquired.

After the appearance, she mates, lays larvae and dies. Its ancestors fed on the leaves of the mulberry tree, it was in its crown that they lived, which is why the name of this insect came about.

Lifestyle

It has been noted that males, when spinning a cocoon from a single silk thread, spend a little more life resource and time on it. As a result, the cocoon of the male turns out to be 25% heavier than that of the female. The process of creating a silk cocoon is very laborious and troublesome, releasing two strong, but at the same time the thinnest threads from the lower lip, the caterpillar builds its house for 18-25 days to turn into a butterfly.

An important moment in the life of a silkworm is the arrangement of a place for forging: thin rods must be installed in it, it is in them that the silkworm will weave its house. The size of the cocoon reaches 38 mm, it is very dense with closed edges.

reproduction

Life cycle insect is simple and primitive, and for many years of work with him by a person, worked out to a mechanism.
After mating, the female spends 2-3 days to lay eggs, she gives about 600 eggs per clutch. Once the tiny caterpillar emerges and is properly maintained, it will grow and develop for about 25 days until it reaches maturity. And only then will preparations begin for the transformation into a butterfly.

The pupa becomes 10 days old, and only then can silk cocoons be used to produce silk thread.

Economic importance

Today you can go to silkworm breeding factories, see and learn the entire production process, but a few centuries ago, for the Chinese, everything related to the manufacture of silk from silkworms was the strictest secret, the disclosure of which threatened the death penalty. But there are no secrets that cannot be revealed. It also happened in this case. Gradually cunning merchants revealed this secret, and it became the property of many peoples. Silk production began to develop in India, Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan.

The silkworm is a worker in the textile industry.

The second country where they began to engage in this profitable business, based on the reproduction of butterfly larvae, was India. It still occupies a leading position in the production of natural silk.

The silkworm is no longer found in wild nature, and the entire life cycle takes place under human supervision.

Modern developments make it possible to select the silkworm to such an extent that the cocoon itself has the whitest color. Cocoons of gray, green or yellow color are not suitable for the production of high-quality silk, so breeders do not use them in large-scale production.

Niramin - Feb 23rd, 2017

The silkworm lives almost nowhere in the wild. The ancient Chinese domesticated this useful insect 4.5 thousand years ago. Despite the fact that the Chinese have long kept the process of producing natural silk in the strictest confidence, it has also become known in other countries where there are optimal conditions for growing silkworm larvae.

ancient legend says that a Chinese princess, having married an Indian raja, stealthily took with her grena - a laying of silkworm eggs - when she left China. It is worth noting that such an act was considered a state crime, and the princess was threatened with the death penalty in her homeland. Nowadays, silkworm breeding is carried out on special farms in Asia: China, Japan, India, Pakistan, North and South Korea, Uzbekistan and Turkey. In addition, similar farms exist in Italy and France.

Like most insects, the silkworm looks different in the course of its life, as it goes through several stages of development:

Grena stage - laying eggs.

Photo: Silkworm laying eggs.

Caterpillar stage (larva).

Photo: Silkworm caterpillars.

Pupation (cocoon formation).

Photo: Silkworm cocoons.

The adult stage is the butterfly.

Photo: Silkworm - butterfly.

Butterfly white color quite large in size with a wingspan of about 6 cm. In the process natural selection the silkworm butterfly has lost the ability to fly. During its short existence, about 20 days, the butterfly does not feed. Its main function is mating and laying up to 1000 eggs in one clutch, after which the butterfly dies.

Depending on a certain temperature, black, hairy larvae emerge from the eggs. In the process of its development, the larva molts several times and becomes a smooth white caterpillar.

It is the caterpillar that feeds exclusively on the leaves of the mulberry (mulberry tree).

Photo: Mulberry tree with fruits.

Any other plant food is not suitable for her. Hence the name of the insect. After 5 weeks of intensive caloric intake, the caterpillar attaches itself to a suitable twig and forms a cocoon of silk thread, which it produces thanks to the presence of a special gland. In the cocoon, the caterpillar turns into a butterfly. To obtain silk thread, farmers do not allow the butterfly to come out of the cocoon. But a certain number of cocoons are still left for butterflies as successors to the next generation of silkworms.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Silkworm
scientific classification
intermediate ranks
International scientific name
bombyx mori Linnaeus, 1758

Description

Relatively large butterfly with a wingspan of 40-60 mm. The color of the wings is off-white with more or less distinct brownish bands. Forewings with notch on outer margin behind apex. The antennae of the male are strongly comb-shaped, the females are comb-shaped. Silkworm butterflies, in fact, have practically lost the ability to fly. Females are especially inactive. Butterflies have underdeveloped mouthparts and do not feed throughout their lives (aphagia).

Life cycle

The silkworm is represented by monovoltine (give one generation a year), bivoltine (give two generations a year) and polyvoltine (give several generations a year) breeds.

Egg

After mating, the female lays eggs (500 to 700 on average), the so-called grena. Grena has an oval (elliptical) shape, flattened laterally, somewhat thicker at one pole; soon after its deposition, one impression appears on both flattened sides. At the thinner pole there is a rather significant depression, in the middle of which there is a tubercle, and in the center of it there is a hole - a micropyle, designed for the passage of the seed thread. The size of grena is about 1 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, but it varies considerably between breeds. In general, breeds of European, Asia Minor, Central Asian and Persian give a larger gren than Chinese and Japanese. Egg laying can last up to three days. Diapause in the silkworm falls on the egg stage. Diapausing eggs develop in the spring of the following year, while non-diapausing eggs develop the same year.

Caterpillar

A caterpillar comes out of the egg (so-called silkworm), which grows rapidly and molts four times. After the caterpillar has gone through four molts, its body becomes slightly yellow. The caterpillar develops within 26-32 days. The duration of development depends on the temperature and humidity of the air, the quantity and quality of food, etc. The caterpillar feeds exclusively on mulberry leaves (mulberry tree). Therefore, the spread of sericulture is associated with the places where this tree grows.

While pupating, the caterpillar weaves a cocoon, the shell of which consists of a continuous silk thread ranging in length from 300-900 meters to 1500 m in the largest cocoons. In the cocoon, the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis. The color of the cocoon can be different: pinkish, greenish, yellow, etc. But for the needs of industry, only silkworm breeds with white cocoons are currently bred.

The release of butterflies from cocoons usually occurs on the 15-18th day after pupation. But the silkworm is not allowed to survive to this stage - the cocoons are kept for 2-2.5 hours at a temperature of about 100 ° C, which kills the pupa and simplifies the unwinding of the cocoon.

Human use

Sericulture

Sericulture- breeding of silkworms to obtain silk. According to Confucian texts, the production of silk using the silkworm began around the 27th century BC. e. , although archaeological research suggests breeding silkworms as early as the Yangshao period (5000 BC). In the first half of the 1st century A.D. e. sericulture came to ancient Khotan, and at the end of the 3rd century - to India. Later it was introduced in other Asian countries, in Europe, in the Mediterranean. Sericulture has become an important industry in the economies of a number of countries such as China, Republic of Korea, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia, Italy and France. Today, China and India are the two main producers of silk, accounting for about 60% of the world's annual production.

Other uses

In China and Korea, fried silkworm pupae are eaten.

Dried caterpillars infected with a fungus Beauveria bassiana used in Chinese traditional medicine.

Silkworm in art

• In 2004, the famous multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and leader of his own group Oleg Sakmarov wrote a song called "Silkworm".
• In 2006 Flëur released a song called "Silkworm".
• In 2007, Oleg Sakmarov released the album "Silkworm".
• In 2009, the Melnitsa group released the Wild Herbs album, on which a song called Silkworm sounds.
• In the second series of the Atomic Forest animated series, there are intelligent silkworms.
• In 2014, Robert Galbraith released his second Cormoran Strike novel, The Silkworm.

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Notes

Homemade Exhibition farm animals mammals Birds Insects

An excerpt characterizing the silkworm

At the beginning of winter, Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky and his daughter arrived in Moscow. In his past, in his intelligence and originality, in particular in the weakening at that time of enthusiasm for the reign of Emperor Alexander, and in accordance with the anti-French and patriotic trend that reigned at that time in Moscow, Prince Nikolai Andreevich immediately became an object of special reverence for Muscovites and the center of the Moscow opposition to the government.
The prince has grown very old this year. Sharp signs of old age appeared in him: unexpected falling asleep, forgetfulness of the nearest events and memory of long-standing ones, and the childish vanity with which he assumed the role of the head of the Moscow opposition. Despite the fact that when the old man, especially in the evenings, went out to tea in his fur coat and powdered wig, and, touched by someone, began his abrupt stories about the past, or even more abrupt and sharp judgments about the present, he aroused in all his guests the same sense of respect. For visitors, this whole old house with huge dressing tables, pre-revolutionary furniture, these lackeys in powder, and the last century himself, a tough and smart old man with his meek daughter and pretty Frenchwoman, who were in awe of him, represented a majestically pleasant sight. But the visitors did not think that in addition to these two three hours, during which they saw the owners, there were another 22 hours a day, during which there was a secret inner life Houses.
IN Lately in Moscow, this inner life became very difficult for Princess Marya. She was deprived in Moscow of those of her best joys - conversations with God's people and solitude - which refreshed her in the Bald Mountains, and did not have any benefits and joys of metropolitan life. She did not go out into the world; everyone knew that her father would not let her go without him, and he himself could not travel due to ill health, and she was no longer invited to dinners and evenings. Princess Marya completely abandoned hope for marriage. She saw the coldness and bitterness with which Prince Nikolai Andreevich received and sent away young people who could be suitors, who sometimes came to their house. Princess Marya had no friends: on this visit to Moscow, she was disappointed in her two closest people. M lle Bourienne, with whom she could not be completely frank before, now became unpleasant to her and for some reason she began to move away from her. Julie, who was in Moscow and to whom Princess Mary wrote for five years in a row, turned out to be a complete stranger to her when Princess Mary again met with her personally. Julie at this time, on the occasion of the death of her brothers, having become one of the richest brides in Moscow, was in the midst of social pleasures. She was surrounded by young people who, as she thought, suddenly appreciated her dignity. Julie was in that period of an aging socialite who feels that her last chance of marriage has come, and now or never her fate must be decided. Princess Mary, with a sad smile, recalled on Thursdays that she now had no one to write to, since Julie, Julie, from whose presence she had no joy, was here and saw her every week. She, like an old emigrant who refused to marry the lady with whom he spent several years of his evenings, regretted that Julie was here and she had no one to write to. Princess Mary in Moscow had no one to talk to, no one to believe her grief, and much new grief has been added during this time. The deadline for the return of Prince Andrei and his marriage was approaching, and his order to prepare his father for that was not only not fulfilled, but on the contrary, the matter seemed to be completely spoiled, and the reminder of Countess Rostova drove the old prince out of himself, and so already most time of the former is not in the spirit. A new grief that has recently been added for Princess Marya was the lessons that she gave to her six-year-old nephew. In her relations with Nikolushka, she recognized with horror in herself the quality of her father's irritability. How many times did she tell herself that she should not allow herself to get excited while teaching her nephew, almost every time she sat down with a pointer at the French alphabet, she so wanted to quickly, easily pour her knowledge out of herself into a child who was already afraid that here was her aunt she would be angry that, at the slightest inattention on the part of the boy, she shuddered, hurried, got excited, raised her voice, sometimes pulled his hand and put him in a corner. Putting him in a corner, she herself began to weep over her evil, bad nature, and Nikolushka, imitating her sobs, would come out of the corner without permission, come up to her and pull her wet hands away from her face, and console her. But more, more than anything else, the irritability of her father brought the princess grief, always directed against her daughter and recently reached the point of cruelty. If he had forced her to bow down all night, if he had beaten her, forced her to carry firewood and water, it would never have occurred to her that her situation was difficult; but this loving tormentor, the most cruel because he loved and for that he tormented himself and her, deliberately knew how not only to insult and humiliate her, but also to prove to her that she was always and in everything to blame. Recently, a new feature appeared in him, which tormented Princess Mary most of all - this was his closer rapprochement with m lle Bourienne. The thought that came to him, in the first minute after receiving the news of his son’s intention, was the joke that if Andrei marries, then he himself marries Bourienne, apparently liked him, and with stubbornness lately (as it seemed to Princess Mary) only in order to offend her, he showed a special kindness to m lle Bourienne and showed his displeasure to his daughter by showing love to Bourienne.