Bombyx mori - caterpillar in vial (3) Larva Caterpillar Silk Worm Domestic Silkmoth Insect Night Butterfly Moth

Bombyx mori cm 5-6 stuffed Larva Caterpillar or Silk Worm of  Domestic Silkmoth Insect Night Butterfly Moth, in glass vial (cm 10.5 x 1.5 diam.) with alcohol, only a piece, as in photo.
Family: Bombycidae.
Common name: Silk Worm.
Syn. Phalaena mori, Bombyx arracanensis, Bombyx brunnea, Bombyx croesi, Bombyx fortunatus, Bombyx meridionalis, Bombyx sinensis, Bombyx textor.

For merely illustrative purposes, the photo of adult butterfly that originates from the caterpillar, not for sale and not available.

Bombyx mori (Linnaeus, 1758) is a species of moth of the family Bombycidae, native to central-eastern Asia.
Its larva, known as silkworm, has considerable economic importance as it is used in the production of silk. His diet consists exclusively of mulberry leaves.
The silkworm produces silk in two glands that are placed parallel to each other within the body. The silk, made up of proteins collected in the glands, the worm extrudes it from two openings located on the sides of the mouth, the seritteri. The thin burrs in contact with the air solidify and, guided by eight movements of the head, it is arranged in layers forming a raw silk cocoon, consisting of a single continuous silk thread varying in length between 300 and 900 meters. The microscopic thread is formed by two proteins: two parallel fibrin threads covered with sericin.
The worm takes 3-4 days to prepare the cocoon formed by about 20-30 concentric layers consisting of a single unbroken wire, after which it will turn into a chrysalis and then this into a butterfly.
If the metamorphosis comes to an end and the caterpillar turns into a moth, the adult insect will come out of the cocoon, piercing it, using a liquid and its legs, making the silk thread that makes it unusable. As a result, breeders kill the chrysalis in special dryers before this happens. The immersion in boiling water allows the silk thread to be unwound, partially dissolving the protein layer of sericin that surrounds the silk thread. In some Asian countries (China, Korea, Japan, India, Vietnam) the chrysalis, extracted from the cocoon, is eaten.
Some cocoons are spared to allow the reproduction of the worm. The silkworm moth is incapable of flying and eating. This species of insect now exists only as a result of explicit selection by man and has presumably lost most of its original characteristics. For example, the caterpillar is unable to survive in the open field on a mulberry tree: the color of its skin is white and lacks the necessary mimicry for which it is easy prey for animals.
As with all animals bred by man, there are many "silkworm" breeds. Bred for millennia, each country devoted to the breeding has created peculiar breeds with different characteristics for the quantity of silk produced, diameter of the thread, color of the cocoon.
Because of its long history and economic importance, the silkworm genome has been the subject of extensive studies by modern science.
In classical antiquity, silk traveled, along with other goods, from China to the Mediterranean countries along the famous Silk Road without the final recipients knowing their origin. When they conquered Sicily, the Saracens introduced the breeding of silkworms (silkworm), then unknown in Europe. Later, this practice also spread elsewhere but Sicily maintained for several centuries an advantageous position in the production of silk; this activity contributed greatly to the wealth of the island. The maximum production of silk was reached in northern Italy in the eighteenth century, began to decline in the period between the two wars to disappear completely in the fifties due to competition from China which is currently the world's largest producer.