🪐 View in 3D Galaxy 📏 View on 3D Scale Stage

🧬 Biological Classification (Kingdom to Species)Bombyx mori

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Bombycidae

Genus

Bombyx

Species

Bombyx mori

Insecta🌿 Herbivore

Domesticated silkmoth

Bombyx mori (Domesticated silkmoth · カイコ)

🛡️ Conservation Status (IUCN Red List)NE (Not Evaluated)

Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.

Geological Era

Extant

Diet

Herbivore

Length · Height

4cm · No data (Wingspan 0.04m)

Mass · Top Speed

No data · No data

Habitat & Fossil Locality

Human-run silkworm rearing facilities (wild ancestors lived in Asian forests)

💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed

💡 Thread reeled from silkworm cocoons becomes silk products. A single cocoon yields as much as 1,000–1,500 m of thread.
💡 The caterpillar length of about 4 cm is about 1.5 times the diameter of a Korean 500-won coin (26.5 mm) (Comparison). In 2008, the Rural Development Administration distributed 5 silkworms each to children to raise at home.

Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.

#누에나방#Bombyx mori

📖 1. Overview

The domesticated silkmoth is a domesticated moth raised by humans for a long time to obtain silk thread, and its caterpillar is called a silkworm. It is thought that none remain in the wild today.

🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology

The caterpillar is about 4 cm long up to the tail horn and has brown markings on the thorax over a pale yellowish-brown background. The adult moth has a wingspan of about 4 cm and can no longer fly due to domestication.

🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior

The silkworm eats only mulberry leaves and molts four times to become a 5th-instar larva, then stops eating after about 7 days to spin a cocoon. A single cocoon usually yields 1,000–1,500 m of thread, and the female moth lays about 500 eggs before dying a few days later.

🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea

The National Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the Rural Development Administration conserves and manages silkworm genetic resources and introduces the life cycle of the silkworm. In 2008, after holding an exhibition, it handed out silkworms to children to raise at home.