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.
• Raspy crickets produce silk to form nests.
• Honeybee and bumblebee larvae produce silk to strengthen the wax cells in which they pupate. ^[1]
• Bulldog ants spin cocoons to protect themselves during pupation. ^[1]
• Weaver ants use silk to connect leaves together to make communal nests. ^[1]
• Caddisfly larvae produce silk.
• 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. ^[2]
• Beetles
• Lacewings
• Fleas
• Flies
• Midges
• Caterpillars of many butterfly species use silk to create shelters or attach to substrates for pupation. ^[3]
• Parasitic wasps such as braconids use silk cocoons for pupation. ^[4]

Other animals

• The family Projapygidae in the order Diplura have cerci that contain silk glands. ^[5]
• 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 amphipod Peramphithoe femorata uses silk to make a nest out of kelp blades. Another amphipod, Crassicorophium bonellii , use silk to build shelter.
• Carp produce fibroin units, a component of silk, to attach their eggs to rocks. ^[6]
• Spider mites make webs that protects them against predators.
• Symphyla produce silk through a pair of spinnerets, which is used for nest building, escape and defense. ^[7]
• Pseudoscorpions make silk chambers in which they molt.
• Goats have been genetically modified to produce milk containing extractable silk proteins. ^[8]
• Dulichia rhabdoplastis ^[9]

References

1. "Bees Are The New Silkworms". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
2. Gurr, Geoff M.; Fletcher, Murray J. (2011). "Silk production by the Australian endemic leafhopper Kahaono montana Evans (Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Dikraneurini) provides protection from predators". Australian Journal of Entomology: no. doi:10.1111/j.1440-6055.2011.00813.x.
3. "Pre-Chrysalis Variegated Fritillary - Euptoieta claudia".
4. "Tobacco Hornworm (parasitoid and hyperparasite) - BugGuide.Net".
5. Diplura
6. "Silk production and use in arthropods". Map of Life. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
7. The role of adhesion in prey capture and predator defence in arthropods
8. Elices, M.; Guinea, G. V.; Plaza, G. R.; Karatzas, C.; Riekel, C.; Agulló-Rueda, F.; Daza, R.; Pérez-Rigueiro, J. (2011). "Bioinspired Fibers Follow the Track of Natural Spider Silk". Macromolecules. 44 (5): 1166–1176. Bibcode:2011MaMol..44.1166E. doi:10.1021/ma102291m. S2CID   97699665.
9. "Some crustaceans have evolved a way to make silk". Science .

External links

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