Types Of Silk Moth In India

The cricula silk is made from the silk moth in the genus of cricula.

Types of silk moth in india. I bombyx mori produces mulberry silkthese silk moths feed on mulberry leaves and hence the silk produced by them is called mulberry silk. Fagara silk is obtained from the giant silk moth attacus atlas l. Another emerging silk producer is tamil nadu where mulberry cultivation. 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.

Different types of silkworm will create fabrics with different characteristics. 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. Mysore and north bangalore the upcoming site of a us20 million silk city contribute to a majority of silk production. They spin light brown cocoons nearly 6 cm long with peduncles of varying lengths 2 10 cm.

Indian moon moth actias selene. Silk in the indian subcontinent is a luxury good. You might not realise but silk can be made from many varieties of silkworm and sometimes no worms at all as youll discover in a minute. Whatever the source these moths and worms produce a protein fibroin that is the main element in silk.

The atlas moths are cultivated for their silk in india along with indian tasar silkmoth. Atlas moth is the largest species of moth found in india and forests of asia. In india about 97 of the raw mulberry silk is produced in the five indian states of karnataka andhra pradesh tamil nadu west bengal and gujarat. Four varieties of silk moths producing four types of silks are found in india.

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. And a few other related species or races inhabiting the indo australian bio geographic region china and sudan. There are many species of silk moth which can produce the silk of commerce but only few have been exploited by man for the purpose. Moths belonging to families satumidae and bombycidae of order lepidoptera and class insecta produce silk of commerce.

Iii samia ricini and philosamia ricini reared on. Such fabrics are woven from different kinds of natural silk produced in india. 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. Attacus taprobanis is another large moth of saturniidae family and very similar to attacus atlas native to southern 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.