The silk Moth have unique lifecycles.
Their life cycles consist of four stages:
•egg
•larva: caterpillar and silkworm
•pupa: cocoon or chrysalis
•silk moth or butterfly
History
In ancient times, it is said that an empress of China accidentally
dropped a silk cocoon into her tea. It began to unravel giving her
the idea to use it as a yarn. The earliest mention of silk fabrics is
attributed to ancient India and is thought to have been brought to
other parts of the world by the Aryans, along with the horse. The
symbol for silk was already part of the written language in China
around 2600 BC and fragments of ancient silk fabrics have been
found and dated back to around 1500 BC. By 200 BC it was so
abundant in China that it was used as wages for soldiers. Aristotle
first mentions silk in Western culture around 300BC but it was not
until the "Silk Road“ trading routes were established around
100AD did silk become abundant in the West. Silk influenced the
fortunes of many countries since and is said to be one of the
financial bases of the Renaissance. Sericulture, as it is called, or
silk production has been established in many countries since but
China is still one of the most dominant suppliers of silk to the
world.
First Stage: Egg
Silkmoth lays hundreds of eggs in neat rows.
They may be round like balls or flat like
pancakes. And Female moth lays many tiny egg.
Second Stage: Larva
The caterpillar or silkworm that emerges from the egg is
only about an eighth of an inch long and covered in hair.
The caterpillar feeds on the mulberry leaves, going
through four separate molts as it matures toward the
pupa stage. As it molts, the old skin is shed and a new,
larger one is grown. After the first molt, the silkworm
loses its hairy exterior and remains smooth and soft
throughout this stage of its life.