List of animals that produce silk explained

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]

External links

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bees Are The New Silkworms . ScienceDaily . 2014-06-06.
2. Silk production by the Australian endemic leafhopper Kahaono montana Evans (Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Dikraneurini) provides protection from predators . 10.1111/j.1440-6055.2011.00813.x . Australian Journal of Entomology. no . 2011. Gurr. Geoff M.. Fletcher . Murray J. .
3. Web site: Pre-Chrysalis Variegated Fritillary - Euptoieta claudia.
4. Web site: Tobacco Hornworm (parasitoid and hyperparasite) - BugGuide.Net.
5. http://www.ento.csiro.au/education/hexapods/diplura.html Diplura
6. Web site: Silk production and use in arthropods . Map of Life . 2014-06-06.
7. https://www.online-keys.net/sciaroidea/add01/Betz_&_kolsch_2004_adhesien.pdf 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 . 1166–1176 . 10.1021/ma102291m. 2011MaMol..44.1166E . 5 . 97699665 .
9. Web site: Some crustaceans have evolved a way to make silk . Science.