Types of silk moth found in india. Name the most common silk moth found in india. Army green moth or oleander hawk moth is a migratory species and feed on a great variety of flowers found on alstonia scholaris trees in india. 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. They spin light brown cocoons nearly 6 cm long with peduncles of varying lengths 2 10 cm.
And a few other related species or races inhabiting the indo australian bio geographic region china and sudan. The life cycle of these four types of silk moths are much in common as they lay eggs from which caterpillars hatches. The most common silk moth is the mulberry silk moth. Assam silkmoth antheraea assamensis assam silkmoth is found in northeast india mostly in assam where cultivated for muga silk which is one of the varieties of tussar silk.
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. There are more than twenty different species of the moth that are found all the way from the philippines to india as well as eastern indonesia. How many types of silk moth are found in india. Four types of silk.
They are the bombyx silk moth the antheraea paphia tasar silk moth the muga silk moth and the samia cynthia eri silk moth. The cricula silk is made from the silk moth in the genus of cricula. Out of the four different silk types the two ie mulberry and eri are manufactured from domesticated silkworms whereas tasar and munga silkworms are wild in nature although attempts are in progress to domesticate them too. I bombyx mori produces mulberry silkthese silk moths feed on mulberry leaves and hence the silk produced by them is called mulberry silk.
Four varieties of silk moths producing four types of silks are found in india. In this article we provide you a glimpse of the varieties of natural silks found in india and the types of silk fabric weaved from them. Fagara silk is obtained from the giant silk moth attacus atlas l. Such fabrics are woven from different kinds of natural silk produced in india.
Iii samia ricini and philosamia ricini reared on. The silk made from the larvae of the moth has a dull yellow color that is very different from the metallic gold color of the cocoon. This included a brocaded shawl and a cape made from the silk of more than one million female golden orb weaver spiders collected in the highlands of madagascar. When it comes to the types of silk fabric produced in india every region in the country boasts of its unique kind.
Thus tassar silk mooga silk kosa silk etc are obtained from cocoons spun by different types of moths.