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 ampiphod Peramphithoe femorata uses silk to make a nest out of kelp blades. Another ampiphod, 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.
- Pseudoscorpions make silk chambers in which they molt.
- Goats have been genetically modified to produce milk containing extractable silk proteins.[7]
- Dulichia rhabdoplastis [8]
References
- ^ a b c "Bees Are The New Silkworms". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Pre-Chrysalis Variegated Fritillary - Euptoieta claudia".
- ^ "Tobacco Hornworm (parasitoid and hyperparasite) - BugGuide.Net".
- ^ Diplura
- ^ "Silk production and use in arthropods". Map of Life. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
