Shelf life of silkworm pupae. Silkworm. Description, photo, video. Protection and preservation

Natural silk is a wonderful fabric that has no analogues, its history is covered with ancient legends, and the production process has changed little over several millennia.

The publication will be of interest to fans of felting, because Tussa and Mulberry silk, as well as silk handkerchiefs, tows, cocoons and other materials are widely used in wet felting.

So where does silk come from?

Natural mulberry silk (

Probably, almost everyone knows that amazing worms provide us with natural silk - unsightly-looking caterpillars (larvae) of the silkworm. High quality silk is produced by these worms, and is often called "mulberry silk" or mulberry silk(Mulberry - mulberry tree translated from English), we call the mulberry tree and many people love its fruits. And the larvae love the leaves and turn them into silk thread.

Silkworm (scientific name Bombyx mori- lat. ) - a butterfly from the real silkworm family, translated from Latin Bombyx mori means "silkworm death" or "dead silk". The name is explained by the fact that the butterfly is not allowed to fly out of the cocoon, it dies inside.

The butterfly is very impressive, it also met the name "silk moth": The wingspan is 4-6 cm, the caterpillar can grow up to 9 cm before pupation.

The Bombyx mori is thought to have originated from a wild silk butterfly found in the mulberry trees of China. It was a very long time ago, it is believed that the history of silk production is at least 5000 years old, and for a long time breeding butterflies in captivity, they have lost the ability to fly well. Females practically do not fly, males fly a little during the mating season, so to speak, in moments of spiritual uplift.

The process of obtaining raw mulberry silk

The butterfly, having hatched from the cocoon, mates with the male, and then begins to lay eggs. For 4-6 days, she lays up to 800 eggs, does not eat anything, because. her oral apparatus underdeveloped, and when he finishes his work, he dies. Eggs are checked, selecting healthy, not affected by infection. In this way, the quality of the future silk and the reproduction of healthy butterflies are controlled.

Each egg in a week gives a larva about 2-3mm with an unimaginable appetite. The larva must be fed regularly day and night for a month with mulberry leaves ( mulberry tree). The leaves are collected, sorted by hand and crushed. All this time, the larvae are in large pallets with leaves placed one on top of the other in a special room with constant temperature and humidity. The larvae are surprisingly sensitive - there should be no drafts, odors and loud sounds in the room. What can happen if the conditions are not met? Yes, just the caterpillar will not spin a cocoon, it will die, and all the efforts of silkworm breeders will be in vain.

The appetite of the caterpillars is constantly growing, and in a day they eat twice as much as the previous one.

From the constant work of a huge number of jaws of silkworms, there is a rumble in the room, similar to the beat of a drum. heavy rain over the roof.

On the fifth day of life, the larva freezes and sleeps for a day, tightly clinging to a leaf. Then it straightens up sharply, and the old tight skin bursts, freeing the grown caterpillar. During the feeding period, the larvae change their skin 4 times, and are again taken for food.

Before pupation, the caterpillars lose interest in food and begin to behave restlessly, constantly waving their heads back and forth. Under the lower lip are glands that produce a silky substance. At this point, they represent 2/5 of the body weight, and are so full that a silk thread stretches behind the caterpillar.

The silkworm breeders move the caterpillars to the flooring of leaves and branches, to wooden lattices or special bundles of rods for cocooning.

First, the caterpillar is fixed on a twig or other base, creating a fluffy mesh-frame, and only then a cocoon is twisted inside it. It begins to secrete a gelatinous substance, which hardens in air, forming a silk thread, and with rotational movements is wrapped around this thread in the shape of a figure eight.

The thread consists of 75-90% protein - fibroin and the adhesive substance sericin, which holds the threads together and prevents them from disintegrating, salts, fats and wax are also present in the thread. The caterpillar completes its cocoon in 3-4 days.

An interesting fact: the cocoons of males are made more carefully - they are denser and the length of the thread is longer than that of females. Those who have had to hold cocoons in their hands know how pleasant and silky they are to the touch.

After 8-9 days, the cocoon is ready for unwinding. If you miss the time, after 2 weeks a butterfly will come out of the cocoon, damaging the silk shell. Because The mouth apparatus of the butterfly is undeveloped; it does not gnaw through the cocoon, but secretes a special caustic substance that dissolves the upper part of the cocoon. Such a cocoon can no longer be unwound, the thread will be torn.

Therefore, the chrysalis is killed by warming the cocoons with hot air, and it suffocates in the cocoon, hence the name "silkworm death" or "dead silk".

Here it is, a wonderful raw material for silk!

Cocoons are sorted by size and color and prepared for unwinding.

Rinse alternately in hot and cold water. The adhesive substance sericin, which holds the threads together, dissolves enough to unwind the thread.

According to all the sources studied, only the unwinding of the thread is mechanized at the present time, all previous stages of production remain completely manual labor, as in ancient times.

The thread of one cocoon is very thin, therefore, when unwinding, from 3 to 10 threads are connected, thus obtaining raw silk. When one of the threads ends during the winding process, a new one is screwed to it, ensuring continuity. The sericin (sticky substance) remaining in the thread helps to easily fasten the ends of the thread.

Raw silk requires further processing, it is wound into yarn and sent to a weaving factory. Factories buy silk by weight, but in the process of further processing, such raw silk loses 25% of its weight - it is soaked to remove sericin residues, bleached. To compensate for their losses, factories enrich silk with metal salts or water-soluble substances - starch, sugar, glue or gelatin. Such impregnations make it possible to make more economical interlacing of threads and compensate for weight losses during weaving.

The sources don't explicitly say this, but I think that's why natural silk shrinks a lot when washed. After all, if you wash salt or water-soluble impregnations from the fabric, the fabric will shrink the vacated space.

After unwinding the cocoons, a dead chrysalis remains, which is rich in protein and is eaten!

Now the silkworm culture is bred exclusively by artificial means. The cocoons that the silkworm caterpillar weaves can be of various shades from white to yellow and even grayish. The white variety of cocoons contains the highest percentage of silk protein and produces the best quality silk. Produced by silkworms in Japan, China and India. Japan was the first to apply a scientific approach to the selection and breeding of silkworms in special laboratories, and now surpasses other countries in the efficiency of silk production, but China is in the lead in terms of production.

It is believed that France and Italy make silk fabric of higher quality than Asian countries. But the raw material, raw silk, is purchased by European manufacturers in China.

Fabric white chinese silk:

I met such an example: a thread of 600 silkworm cocoons is needed for a women's blouse.

Traditional Thai mulberry silk obtained by processing yellow cocoons, which are produced by another variety of silkworm Bombix Mori. The breeding process is similar.

Yellow cocoons contain less silk protein, and the thread is uneven - it has thickenings. When twisting, the thread turns out to be uneven, and on Thai-made silk we see such characteristic thickening of the thread. Again, the entire production process is manual labor, often even unwinding is done by hand, so Thai silk is quite expensive and is available only to wealthy Thais in Thailand.

Thai silk fabric:

Natural "wild silk", "tussah silk (Tussah, tussar)"
What is it and how is it different from mulberry?

This silk is "wild" because the butterfly is grown in natural conditions, on bushes and trees, which are maximum protected by canopies. Silk breeders only look after the caterpillars and protect them from birds. Silk cocoons are harvested after the butterfly leaves the cocoon, and butterflies are completely different - Antheraea, a kind of night peacock-eye who are called oak silkworm. Butterflies are large, fly well, caterpillars grow up to 10 cm before pupation.

Chinese oak silkworm (there are Japanese, Mongolian and other varieties). The wingspan of a butterfly is 10-15 cm.

They may feed on oak, apple, plum, or chestnut leaves, and their cocoons are brownish in color, coarser, and more durable. Cocoons are large, several times larger than mulberry cocoons, and can reach the size of a small chicken egg.

In some sources they write that the thread is difficult to unwind, and the silk fiber is combed from the cocoon, in others - that the thread unwinds excellently. I don't know where the truth is!

Also, wild silk is less shiny, its thread does not shine evenly, but gleams, as it were.

Silk obtained in this way is not bleached to a pure white color. The fabric is durable and is often used for interior decoration and the production of very wearable dense suiting silk fabrics.

Personally, my hands have been itching to paint on her for a long time, there will be a chic skirt, but there is no time.

Dyed wild silk fabric:

I hope, dear readers, that the article was interesting to you. Personally, in the process of writing, I learned a lot of new things for myself and realized, having appreciated the scale of manual labor, why real natural silk cannot be cheap in any way :)

In the photo in the publication, most likely, small private farms in Asia. In China, it is very common for farmers to grow silkworms and then sell the cocoons by weight for further processing.

The article was written using materials from various Internet sites.

Interestingly, the adhesive substance sericin mentioned is named after ancient people Sulfur, who, according to the records of historians that have come down to us (Herodotus), has been engaged in the manufacture of silk since ancient times.
As you can see, silk is produced by different silkworms, not only mulberries.

On the territory of Russia, the Siberian silkworm is common, which is a pest:

"With favorable for development weather conditions they are able to significantly increase their numbers in a short period of time. So there's a flash mass reproduction harmful forest insects. total area active foci of pests and diseases in 2001 amounted to more than 10 million hectares. Almost 70% of this area was occupied by Siberian and gypsy moths. Foci Siberian silkworm in Yakutia, on an area of ​​6 million hectares, they have passed into the category of fading after the implementation of extermination measures and under the influence of natural causes.

Most dangerous pests in Siberia are the Siberian silkworm (the main area is the Irkutsk region, the Republic of Buryatia and Krasnoyarsk region) and black barbel (the main area is the Krasnoyarsk Territory). The Siberian silkworm has a pronounced ecological variability, differing in different parts range with a set of preferred forage species and features of population dynamics, which allowed A.S. Rozhkov (1963) to identify several regions where it feeds on certain types of fodder plants and outbreaks of its mass reproduction occur with similar dynamics (Fig. 6). The area of ​​forests damaged by this dendrophagus only for 40 years of the 20th century (1930-1970) amounted to more than 8 million hectares only for Central Siberia (Kondakov, 1974).

Of forest diseases, fir cancer is the most widespread (on 445 thousand ha). The main area of ​​this disease in Siberia is the Kemerovo region.

General deterioration of the forest pathological situation in the forests Russian Federation besides biological features pests and diseases are caused by a complex of factors unfavorable for forest ecosystems and a number of organizational shortcomings of the forest protection service, such as a limited number of specialists in the regions, insufficient funding for forest pathological expeditionary surveys, extermination measures, etc."

Distribution area of ​​the Siberian silkworm:

Harmfulness of the Siberian silkworm, according to A.S. Rozhkov (1963):
1 - the greatest harm; 2 - significant harm; 3 - little harm; 4 - possible harm.

That is, even with the current harsh climate of Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Siberia, the silkworm actively breeds, posing a threat to forests. In the past, Siberia was a much more suitable place, judging by the rich flora and fauna, the remains of which are found by scientists during excavations. And the preserved piece of the tropical jungle of Primorye clearly illustrates what the climate was like in the past. When the warm Pacific current worked for heating Far East and Siberia.

Actually, in Primorye, the northern border of the silkworm range is now passing:

Sericulture is the breeding of silkworms to obtain silk. According to Confucian texts, the production of silk using the silkworm began around the 27th century BC. e., although archaeological research suggests the cultivation of silkworms as early as the Yangshao period (5000 BC). In the first half of the 1st century A.D. e. sericulture came to the ancient Hotan,, and at the end of the III century - to India. It was later introduced in other Asian countries, in Europe, in the Mediterranean. Sericulture has become an important industry in the economies of a number of countries such as China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India, Brazil, Russia, Italy and France. Today, China and India are the two main producers of silk, accounting for about 60% of the world's annual production.

Hotan, historical background:
The history of the city is inextricably linked with the functioning of the Great Silk Road, which went from here either to the south, to India, or to the west, through the Pamir gorges. In ancient times, native speakers of the Tocharian language lived in the oasis, who early adopted Buddhism and whose mummies were discovered by European researchers at the beginning of the 20th century.
It is likely that the local monks were the first to introduce the Buddhist doctrine to the Chinese, who were attracted to Khotan by stocks of an ornamental stone, jade, highly valued at the court of the emperor.

Approximately from the II century BC. e. The oasis is inhabited by Saka Iranian-speaking tribes, who left quite numerous monuments of Buddhist literature in the Khotanosak language of the 1st millennium BC. e. Their appearance is connected with the actual foundation of the city and the receipt of the name known to us (Iran. xvatan). Starting from the 9th-10th centuries, the Khotanosak language was gradually replaced by the Turkic dialects.

The Khotan oasis (called 和阗 in old Chinese texts) marked the limit of the Chinese borders during the Han (Ban Chao troops visited here in 73) and Tang (there was a Chinese border outpost in the 630s). According to legend, back in the 5th century, a Chinese princess, married to a Khotan prince, secretly brought silkworm pupae from the Celestial Empire in her magnificent hairstyle. Thus, Khotan became the first sericulture center outside of China; it was from here that the secret of its production leaked to Persia and Byzantium.

In the 10th century Kashgar princes dominated Khotan. During the periods of their highest power, the rulers of Tibet also tried to subdue the oasis. Marco Polo, who visited the city in 1274, admired the quality of local fabrics.

Silkworm (lat. bombyx mori) is a nondescript little butterfly with off-white wings that can't fly at all. But it is thanks to her efforts that women of fashion all over the world have been able to enjoy outfits made of beautiful soft fabrics for more than 5000 years, the brilliance and colorful transfusion of which fascinate at first sight.

Silk has always been a valuable commodity. The ancient Chinese - the first manufacturers of silk fabric - kept their secret securely. For its disclosure, an immediate and terrible death penalty was due. They domesticated silkworms as early as the 3rd millennium BC, and to this day these small insects work to satisfy the vagaries of modern fashion.

There are monovoltine, bivoltine and polyvoltine silkworm breeds in the world. The former give only one generation per year, the latter two, and the third several generations per year. An adult butterfly has a wingspan of 40-60 mm, it has an underdeveloped mouth apparatus, so it does not feed throughout its short life. The wings of the silkworm are off-white in color, brownish bandages are clearly visible on them.

Immediately after mating, the female lays eggs, the number of which varies from 500 to 700 pieces. The laying of a silkworm (like all other representatives of the peacock-eye family) is called grena. It has an elliptical shape, flattened on the sides, with one side slightly larger than the other. On a thin pole there is a recess with a tubercle and a hole in the center, which is necessary for the passage of the seed thread. The size of grena depends on the breed - in general, Chinese and Japanese silkworms have less grena than European and Persian ones.

Silkworms (caterpillars) emerge from the egg, to which all the views of silk producers are riveted. They grow in size very quickly, shedding four times in their lifetime. The entire cycle of growth and development lasts from 26 to 32 days, depending on the conditions of detention: temperature, humidity, food quality, etc.

Silkworms feed on the leaves of the mulberry tree (mulberry), so silk production is possible only in places where it grows. When the time of pupation comes, the caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon, consisting of a continuous silk thread with a length of three hundred to one and a half thousand meters. Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar transforms into a chrysalis. In this case, the color of the cocoon can be very different: yellowish, greenish, pinkish or some other. True, only silkworms with white cocoons are bred for industrial needs.

Ideally, the butterfly should emerge from the cocoon on the 15-18th day, however, unfortunately, it is not destined to live up to this time: the cocoon is placed in a special oven and kept for about two to two and a half hours at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius. Of course, the pupa dies, and the process of unwinding the cocoon is greatly simplified. In China and Korea, fried pupae are eaten, in all other countries they are considered just “production waste”.

Sericulture has long been an important industry in China, Korea, Russia, France, Japan, Brazil, India and Italy. Moreover, about 60% of all silk production falls on India and China.

These butterflies are used by humans to obtain silk; in general, the silkworm is a very old inhabitant of our planet. Some argue that people began to use it as early as five thousand years BC.

Today, the worms of this butterfly are bred for silk, Interesting Facts that in China and Korea, silkworm cockles are used for food, they are fried and such a dish is considered exotic, and these larvae are also used in folk medicine.

In our world, the most important countries that produce silk (60 percent of the total market) are India and China, where silkworms live the most.

Today, people know much more about the production and types of silk than about the insect that gave us this magnificent silk thread. We will talk about this in this article. We will find out what the silkworm looks like, what it eats, how it is bred, as well as its breeding characteristics.

Appearance

Silkworms got their name from their diet. They recognize only one tree - this is mulberry, in scientific language this tree is called mulberry. Silkworm caterpillars eat day and night without stopping. Therefore, some farm owners get inconvenienced if the tree is occupied by caterpillars of this breed. In the silk industry, the mulberry tree is specially grown to provide food for silkworms.

This insect goes through a standard development process, which can be seen in the video. Like all insects, the wild silkworm goes through four life cycles, namely:

• the formation of an egg (larva);
• the appearance of a caterpillar;
• pupa formation (silkworm cocoons);
• butterfly.

The butterfly is quite large. The wingspan is about 60 millimeters. The main characteristics of the appearance include the following indicators:

• the color is white with dirty spots;
• brown clear dressings on the wings;
• the front part of the wing is notched;
• males have comb whiskers, while females have this effect weakly expressed;

Outwardly, the wild silkworm is very beautiful. In the photo and video you can see how this breed of butterflies looks in life.

To date, this species practically does not fly, due to the content in unnatural conditions. There are also interesting facts that state that these insects do not eat when they become butterflies. This breed has obvious distinctive features from all other species. The fact is that for many centuries, a man kept a silkworm at home and therefore, today these butterflies cannot survive without his care and guardianship. For example, caterpillars will not look for food, even if they are very hungry, they will wait for a person to feed them. To date, scientists cannot give an exact answer about the origin of this species.

In modern sericulture, there are many varieties of silkworms. Most often, hybrid individuals are used. In general, this breed can be divided into two types:

• the first is monovoltine, such a species can give offspring no more than once a year;
• the second is polyvoltine, which produces larvae several times a year.

Hybrids are different outward signs, which include:

• wing color;
• body shape;
• the dimensions that characterize the pupa;
• shapes and sizes of butterflies;
• the size and color of the caterpillars (there is a breed of silkworm with striped caterpillars or one-color ones).

What does everyone look like possible types silkworms can be seen in a photo or video.

The indicators of silkworm productivity include the following characteristics:

• the amount of output of dry cocoons and their total yield;
• how much cocoon shells can unwind;
• silk output;
• technical properties and quality of the resulting silk.

What are the characteristics of silkworm eggs?

In the scientific field, silkworm eggs are called grena. Features are as follows:

• oval shape;
• slightly flattened sides;
• elastic and translucent shell.

The size of the egg is incredibly small, in one gram there can be up to two thousand eggs. As soon as the butterflies have laid grena, it has a light yellow or milky color, and over time the color of the eggs gradually changes, at first turning a little pink and finally becoming dark purple. And when the color of the eggs does not change, this indicates that their vitality has been completely lost.

The ripening period of grena is long. Butterfly larvae are laid in July and August. Then they hibernate until spring. During this period, all metabolic processes in the egg slow down significantly. This is necessary so that the grena can transfer low temperatures, and the appearance of caterpillars was regulated. For example, if in winter period eggs were at a temperature not lower than +15 degrees, then future caterpillars develop very poorly. This is due to the fact that they hatch very early, even before the mulberry leaves appear (this is the main food source for silkworms). Therefore, during this period, the eggs are placed in the refrigerator, where a constant temperature regime is observed from 0 to -2 degrees.

Life cycle of caterpillars

The appearance of caterpillars refers to the larval stages of development of silkworms. They used to be called silkworms, but based on scientific terms, this name is incorrect. To external characteristics caterpillars include the following indicators:

• the body has a slightly elongated shape;
• there is a head, abdomen and chest;
• there are horny appendages on the head;
• on the inside of the body there are three pairs of pectoral, and five abdominal legs;
• caterpillars have chitinous covers that perform a protective function and at the same time are their muscles.

The external data of the caterpillars can be found in the photo, as well as see them life cycle on video.

Once a caterpillar hatches from an egg, it is very small, weighing only half a milligram. But with such a small size and weight, the body of the caterpillars has all the necessary biological processes for a full-fledged life, so they grow rapidly. In the body of a caterpillar there are very powerful jaws, esophagus, developed pharynx, intestines, circulatory and excretory system. Thanks to such a developed organism, all the food consumed is very well absorbed. Imagine that these babies have more than four thousand muscles, which is eight times more than humans. Acrobatic numbers that caterpillars can perform are associated with this.

The life cycle of a caterpillar lasts about forty days, during which time it increases in size by more than thirty times. Due to this intensity of growth, the shell with which the caterpillars are born becomes small, so they need to shed their old skin. This process is called molting. During this period, individuals stop feeding and find a place to molt. Tightly attaching their legs to the leaves, or holding on to a tree, they freeze. In the people, this period is called sleep. This spectacle can be seen in detail in the photo. Then the caterpillar, as it were, hatches again from the old skin. First, the head appears, which has increased several times in size, and then the rest of the body. During sleep, the caterpillars cannot be touched, otherwise they will not be able to throw off the old cover, as a result of which they die.

Caterpillars go through the process of molting four times during their entire life span. And each time they have a different color. In the photo and video you can see the colors of the caterpillars.

The main part of the caterpillar's body for humans is the silk gland. This organ is best developed, thanks to artificial content for many centuries. In this organ, the silk we need is formed.

Final stage of development: silkworm chrysalis

Silkworm cocoons are formed for a short time (you can see them in the photo) This is an intermediate stage of development. The caterpillar forms a chrysalis around itself and stays there until it turns into a butterfly. Such silkworm cocoons are the most valuable for humans. Many amazing processes take place inside the cocoon, the caterpillar goes through the stage of the last molt and turns into a chrysalis, and then it becomes a butterfly.

The appearance of a butterfly and its departure can be easily determined. The day before the emergence of cocoons begin to move. If you lean against the cocoon at this time, you can hear a small noise, like tapping. This butterfly sheds its pupa skin. Interestingly, butterflies appear strictly at the allotted time. This is the period from five to six in the morning.

In order to get out of the cocoon, the mucous membranes of the butterfly secrete a specialized glue that splits the cocoon and makes it possible to fly out (newborn butterflies can be seen in the photo).

Butterflies live very little, no more than 18-20 days, but there are also centenarians who can reach the age of 25-30 days. The jaws and mouth of butterflies are undeveloped, so they cannot eat. During this short life span, their main purpose is to mate and lay eggs. One female can lay more than one thousand eggs per clutch. The laying process does not stop, even if the female does not have a head, because there are several nervous systems. In order to provide future offspring with good survival, the females attach the gren very strongly to the surface of the leaf or to the tree. That's all! This is where the life cycle of silkworms ends.

Then the process begins again, and goes through all the above stages again, supplying humanity with a silk thread.

The silkworm or mulberry worm belongs to the silkworm family. This type of insect got its name because of the feeding habits. The silkworm can only feed on the leaves of the mulberry tree. The silkworm is a fully domesticated insect and is not found today in wild nature. The ancestors of the silkworm are considered wild mulberry worms, which were tamed and domesticated long before our era in China.

The silkworm is a fairly large insect. Adults can reach 6 cm in wingspan. Insects are quite massive for their size and have practically lost the ability to fly.

The life cycle of the silkworm consists of several stages and metamorphoses. The female after mating lays about 500 eggs, which eventually turn into a caterpillar. Caterpillars grow quite quickly and shed their skin several times.

Silkworm caterpillars are often called mulberry worms due to their appearance. The view of the silkworm caterpillar can be seen in the photo. Caterpillars feed on mulberry leaves without interruption throughout the day. Thanks to such intensive nutrition, the caterpillars grow very quickly, molt several times, and then turn into pupae.

After about a month and a half, the mulberry worm begins to pupate. The worms move more and more slowly, with difficulty turning their heads. A slowdown in activity indicates preparation for pupation. The caterpillar begins to produce a continuous silk thread, forming a dense cocoon around itself. Inside the cocoon, silkworm pupae are formed. The silk thread from which silkworm cocoons are formed can reach up to 1.5 km. Medium cocoons are usually formed with 400-800 meters of silk thread.

In the photo below you can see a mature silkworm cocoon.
Silkworm cocoons are different colors- greenish, yellow, pink and white. The cocoon is fully formed in 2-3 days. After about 2-3 weeks, a butterfly emerges from the cocoon. But in the production breeding of silkworms, they do not wait for the butterfly to emerge from the cocoon. The pupated caterpillars are placed for a couple of hours in a temperature of 100°C, which causes the death of the pupa inside the cocoon. After the death of the pupa, the thread unwinds more easily.

Interestingly, adult butterflies do not feed throughout their lives. Silkworm butterflies have an underdeveloped chewing apparatus and they are simply not able to eat food. Butterflies can live without food for several days. This period is just enough to lay eggs.

There are several types of silkworm depending on the habitat.

Types of mulberry worms:

Japanese;
Chinese;
Korean;
Indian;
European;
Persian;
mulberry worms different types differ in size of individuals, as well as in color. Cocoons also differ in size, shape and amount of silk. Different types of silkworms are characterized by different duration of the ripening period and frequency of yield.

Sericulture

Most often, mulberry worms are used in sericulture. Silk production dates back to ancient times and occupied an important place in the economy of Eastern countries. Today, the main silk producing countries are India and China. Also, mulberry worms are quite widely bred in Europe, in Korea, India and Russia.

For industrial purposes, mulberry worms with white cocoons are bred. Most often, Japanese, Chinese and European species silkworms. With the development of silkworms, new mestizo breeds of mulberry worms are constantly being bred.

In large industries, mulberry eggs are grown in special incubators, where they turn into larvae in a couple of days. The larvae are then placed in special mulberry leaf feeders where they feed and grow. After the larvae grow up, they are transferred to special cells where they will form a cocoon. The larvae begin to produce silk thread when they find the necessary support for fixation. Rotating the head to the sides, the larvae form a frame, and then crawl inward, and complete the formation of a cocoon.

To obtain a silk thread in production, they do not wait until a moth is born. After a couple of days, pupated individuals are collected and steamed. When steamed, the larvae inside die and the threads are easier to unwind. After the steam, the cocoons are dipped into boiling water, which makes the thread more pliable.

In eastern countries, the breeding of silkworms at home is still widespread. The larvae are manually transferred to trays covered with mulberry leaves, and straw branches or lattice trays are used to form a cocoon.

It takes about two thousand pupated caterpillars to produce one silk product, such as a dress. Silk products are very expensive, which is associated with the laborious process of obtaining silk threads. With the development of technology, synthetic threads come to replace silk. But reviews about the characteristics of natural silk do not require additional comments. Natural fabric has a special richness and charm, and silk thread products are still considered an indicator of status and good taste.

Mulberry worms in cosmetology

Natural silk contains the proteins sericin and fibroin. Sericin dissolves well in warm water, forming a sticky mixture. Fibroin is not able to dissolve in water. Cocoons after immersion in water become sticky, which is associated with the dissolution of sericin. Sericin moisturizes the skin and also prevents the formation of wrinkles. Well-moisturized skin ages more slowly.

Mulberry cocoons can be used for the peeling procedure. Silk thread fibers well exfoliate the upper dead layer of cells. After peeling using silkworm threads, the skin becomes elastic and smooth.

For cosmetic purposes, empty cocoons are used, from which the larvae are first removed. Also in cosmetic purposes you can use the cocoons from which the butterfly flew out.

The photo shows how the larvae are taken out of the cocoon through the hole.

According to women, using cocoons is very simple and convenient. They are put on the index fingers and driven along the massage lines of the face. Before the procedure, the face must be cleaned and washed with warm water. Before peeling, silk fibers must be soaked in water. Top Reviews about the effectiveness of the use of silkworm cocoons, people leave after a course of several peeling procedures.

Silk thread fibers do a good job with enlarged pores and black dots. Before the peeling procedure, the skin of the face must be cleaned using a cleanser.

Of course, reviews of instant rejuvenation are usually greatly exaggerated, but the proteins sericin and fibroin can really slow down the aging process.

The silkworm is a very interesting insect that has long been known to man as source of silk. According to some data mentioned in Chinese chronicles, the insect became known as early as 2600 BC. The process of obtaining silk for centuries in China was a state secret, and silk became one of the clear trade advantages.

Starting from the 13th century, other countries, including Spain, Italy, and North African countries, mastered the technology of silk production. In the 16th century, technology reached Russia.

Now the silkworm is actively bred in many countries, and in Korea and China it is used not only to obtain silk, but also for food. Exotic dishes that are prepared from it are distinguished by originality, and silkworm larvae are used for the needs of traditional medicine.

India and China are leaders in the production of silk, and it is in these countries that the number of silkworms is the largest.

What does a silkworm look like

This insect earned its unusual name thanks to the tree that it feeds on. Mulberry - a tree, which is also called mulberry, is the only source of food for the silkworm.

silkworm caterpillar eats a tree day and night, which can even lead to its death if the caterpillars occupy such trees on the farm. For the production of silk on an industrial scale, these trees are grown specifically for feeding insects.

The silkworm goes through the following life cycles:

The silkworm butterfly is a large insect, and its wingspan reaches 6 centimeters. It has a white color with black spots, on the wings, in front of them, there are notches. Pronounced comb mustache distinguish males from females, in which such an effect is almost imperceptible.

The butterfly has practically lost the ability to fly, and modern individuals spend their entire lives without rising into the sky. This led to their very long content in unnatural living conditions. Moreover, according to available facts, insects stop eating after turning into butterflies.

The silkworm acquired such strange features due to keeping it at home for many centuries. This has led to now the insect cannot survive without human care.

The silkworm over the years of its breeding has managed to be reborn into two main species: monovoltine and polyvoltine. The first species lays larvae once a year, and the second - up to several times a year.

Hybrid silkworm individuals can have many differences in terms of such traits as:

• body shape;
• wing color;
• dimensions and general shape of the butterfly;
• pupa dimensions;
• color and shape of caterpillars.

Larvae or eggs of this butterfly in scientific environment are called Grena. They have an oval shape flattened laterally, with elastic transparent film. The dimensions of one egg are so small that for one gram of weight their number can reach two thousand pieces.

Immediately after the butterfly lays eggs, they have a light milky color or yellowish color. As time passes, changes occur, leading to the appearance of a pink tint in the larvae, and then to complete change colors to purple. If the color of the eggs does not change over time, then the larvae have died.

Silkworm eggs have a fairly long maturation period. He puts them in summer months: in July and August, and then they winter until spring. The processes taking place in them at this time slow down significantly in order to survive the impact of low winter temperatures.

If grena hibernates at temperatures not lower than +15 degrees, then there is a risk of poor development in future caterpillars, so in winter you need provide for grena optimum temperature. Caterpillars appear before the leaves have time to grow on the trees, so grena is stored in refrigeration units at a temperature of 0 to -2 degrees throughout this period.

The caterpillars of this butterfly are also called silkworms, which cannot be considered a scientific name. Externally, silkworm caterpillars look like this:

Immediately after birth, the caterpillar has a very small size and weight, not exceeding half a milligram. Despite such dimensions, all biological processes in the caterpillar proceed normally, and it begins to actively develop and grow.

The caterpillar has very developed jaws, pharynx and esophagus, so that all food consumed is very quickly and well absorbed. Each such small caterpillar has over 8,000 muscles, which allows it to bend in intricate poses.

In forty days, the caterpillar grows to more than thirty times its original dimensions. During the growth period, she sheds her skin, which for natural reasons becomes small for her. This is called a molt.

During molting, the silkworm caterpillar stops eating tree leaves and finds a separate place for itself, usually under the leaves, where, firmly attaching to them with legs, it freezes for some period. This period is also called the sleep of the caterpillar.

With the advent of time, the head of the renewed caterpillar begins to break through from the old skin, then it comes out all in its entirety. At this time, you can not touch them. This can lead to the fact that the caterpillar simply does not have time to throw off the old skin and die. A caterpillar molts four times in its life.

An intermediate stage in the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is a cocoon. Caterpillar creates a cocoon around itself and inside it turns into a butterfly. These cocoons represent the greatest interest for a person.

The moment when a butterfly should be born and leave its cocoon is very easy to determine - it starts to move literally a day before, and you can hear light tapping inside. This knock appears because at this time the already mature butterfly is trying to free itself from the skin of the caterpillar. It is curious that the time of the appearance of the silkworm butterfly into the world is always the same - from five to six in the morning.

A special glue-like liquid secreted by butterflies helps them break free from the cocoon.

The life of a moth is limited to only twenty days, and sometimes they do not even live up to 18 days. At the same time, it is possible meet among them centenarians who live for 25 and even 30 days.

Due to the fact that the jaws and mouth of butterflies do not have sufficient development, they cannot eat. The main task of the butterfly is to continue the genus, and in their short life they manage to lay many eggs. In one laying, the female silkworm can lay up to a thousand of them.

It is noteworthy that even if the insect loses its head, egg laying process will not be interrupted. The body of a butterfly has several nervous systems, which allows it to continue laying and live for a long time, even in the absence of such a significant part of the body as the head.