Bombyx mori Linnaeus 1758

1. Bombyx mori (Linnaeus, 1758) (FIGURES 1 A–1B, 3A–3C)

Phalaena (Bombyx) mori Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat. 1: 499. TL: “ Chinae,.. hodie culta per Europam”. Type: male (Linnean Society London) [examined].

Bombyx sinensis Moore & Hutton, 1862, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1 (3): 313. TL: “Inhabits China ”.

Bombyx croesi Moore & Hutton, 1862, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1 (3): 313. TL: “Inhabits China ”.

Bombyx fuscata Motschulsky, 1866, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou 39 (1): 192. TL: [Japan].

Bombyx fortunatus Moore & Hutton, 1862, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1 (3): 313. TL: “Inhabits China ”.

Bombyx arracanensis Moore & Hutton, 1862, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1 (3): 314. TL: “Cultivated in Arracan, but is said to have been introduced from China ”.

Bombyx textor Moore & Hutton, 1862, Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1 (3): 314. TL: “Inhabits China ”.

Diagnosis. Characterized by the following features: body and wings white with veins clearly visible; uncus about 1/3 length of valva; valva broad basally and narrow distally; saccus slender and short with pointed apex; aedeagus straight; apophyses posteriores longer and thicker than apophyses anteriores; ductus bursae very short.

Specimens examined (all from domesticated stock). [HUNAN] Changsha City: 8 males and 12 females, campus of Hunan Agricultural University, 13–15.IX.2012, Tui-Zi Feng fed. (HUNAU); [GUANGDONG] Guangzhou City: 2 males and 3 females, campus of South China Agricultural University, 7–9.VII.2003, Guo-Hua Huang fed. (SCAU); 4 males and 5 females, campus of South China Agricultural University, 14–17.X.2006, Liu- Sheng Chen fed. (SCAU); 3 males, Yasunori Kishida collection, donation, 2002 (NSMT); 2 males and 1 female, Syoziro Asahira collection, donation 1998 (NSMT).

Bionomics. Morus alba Linn., 1753 is the larval host. It is mostly reared in domestic manufacturing plants in villages. Eggs are initially round and white (Plate 1B), later slowly changing to gray (Plate 1C). The larvae are quite variable in color with the thoracic zone swollen and the caudal horn reduced to a hump (Plate 1D–1E). The pupa is enclosed in a white or yellow cocoon (Plate 1F–1G) from which the adults emerge through an emergence hole and mate soon after (Plate 1A, 1H).

Distribution. Cultivated throughout China, and also distributed widely throughout tropical and subtropical areas of the world.

Remarks. Robinson et al. (2010) reported that the host plants of this species are consisting of Morinda citrifolia Linn., 1753 (Rubiaceae), Morus alba Linn., 1753 and M. nigra Linn., 1753 (both Moraceae). The silkworm is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. It was domesticated from the wild silkmoth, Bombyx mandarina, and is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction as it does not occur in the wild. The practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, from where it spread to Korea, Japan, India and the West (Barber, 1992; Chu & Wang, 1996). As a model species for biological research, the complete silkworm genome was sequenced by Xia et al. (2004). Subsequently, many genetic analyses have been done based on this by other researchers (e.g. Miao et al., 2005; Mita et al., 2004; Xia et al., 2009).