Menu

The silkworm is the larva (the active immature form of an insect) or caterpillar of the Bombyx mori moth. Silk has been made for at least 5000 years in China. The moth is important because it makes silk. It is entirely dependent on humans, and it no longer lives in the wild. Silkworms eat mulberry leaves, and are native to northern China.

The domesticated B. mori and the wild Bombyx mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.^:342