2 types of silk moths. Fagara silk is obtained from the giant silk moth attacus atlas l. There are over 160000 recorded species of moths across the globe with around 11000 of these being found in the united states and around 2500 being found in the united kingdom. The japanese silk moth has been cultivated in japan for a long time mainly for its super elastic and strong white silk which is extremely rare and expensive in todays times. Bombyx mori the domestic silk moth is an insect from the moth family bombycidaeit is the closest relative of bombyx mandarina the wild silk moththe silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth.
Moths are flying insects in the order of lepidoptera which is also the same order to which butterflies belong. It is an economically important insect being a primary producer of silka silkworms preferred food are white mulberry leaves though they may eat other mulberry species and even the osage. The cocoon is made up of threads of raw silk fibers which are fine and lustrous and 300. And a few other related species or races inhabiting the indo australian bio geographic region china and sudan.
Silkworm moth bombyx mori lepidopteran whose caterpillar has been used in silk production sericulture for thousands of years. They spin light brown cocoons nearly 6 cm long with peduncles of varying lengths 2 10 cm. An egg of silk moth takes about 14 days to hatch into larvae.