List of animals that produce silk

Silk is produced by a variety of animals, for different purposes, with various types being produced.

Insects[]

• Silkworms produce silk when undergoing larval to adult metamorphosis. This includes not only the domesticated Bombyx mori, but a wide range of moth species, several of which are commercially exploited for silk.^[1]
• Raspy crickets produce silk to form nests.
• Honeybee and bumblebee larvae produce silk to strengthen the wax cells in which they pupate.^[2]
• Bulldog ants spin cocoons to protect themselves during pupation.^[2]
• Weaver ants use silk to connect leaves together to make communal nests.^[2]
• Webspinners have silk glands on their front legs.
• Hornets
• Silverfish
• Mayflies
• Thrips
• Leafhoppers produce silk nests under the leaves of the trees where they live, to protect them against predators.^[3]
• Beetles
• Lacewings
• Fleas
• Flies
• Midges
• Caterpillars of many butterfly species use silk to create shelters or attach to substrates for pupation.^[4]
• Parasitic wasps such as braconids use silk cocoons for pupation.^[5]

Other animals[]

• The family Projapygidae in the order Diplura have cerci that contain silk glands.^[6]
• The mussel Pinna nobilis creates silk to bond itself to rocks. It is used to make sea silk.
• Spiders make spider silk for various purposes such as weaving their webs, protecting their eggs or as a safety line.
• The crustacean Peramphithoe femorata uses silk to make a nest out of kelp blades.
• Carp produce fibroin units, a component of silk, to attach their eggs to rocks.^[7]
• Spider mites make webs that protects them against predators.
• Pseudoscorpions make silk chambers in which they molt.
• Goats have been genetically modified to produce milk containing extractable silk proteins.^[8]

References[]

External links[]

• US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, documentation about various animals that produce silk and why.