The book of earth: February 2020

An active and colorful friend
The Sun Conure parrot is probably the most popular Aratinga conure kept as a pet.
Sun Conures are strikingly beautiful with a personality to match. Their beauty and playfullness make the Sun Conure a much loved pet.
It is said that the Sun Conure parrot got its name because in the sky a large flock of Sun Conures resembles a sunset.
Sun Conures are active, playful, and very social. If you do not have enough time to spend with a Sun Conure, you might want to find another pet bird. Because Sun Conures are so social, they need a lot of attention. Match this with their loud screams, and you might just regret picking this companion.
Sun Conure parrots aren’t very good talkers, but they can be very good at imitating sounds and performing tricks.
They are also very active, so a large cage and a lot of toys is a must for these playful little birds. They love toys that are easy to chew and toys that make noise. They also love to climb, hang, and swing.
It is also important to note that Sun Conures can be very nippy and aggressive, especially near puberty, so they are better pets for experienced bird owners.
If you are an experienced bird owner with a good amount of time to spend with your pet bird and a high threshold for noise, then a Sun Conure parrot might be the right pet bird for you.

Fast Facts
Name
Sun Conure (Aratinga solstitialis
Origin
Northeastern South America
Size
12 in.
Color Differences
Younger Sun Conures are mostly green while older Sun Conures are mostly yellow.
Lifespan
25-30 years
Noise
Loud
Living Arrangements
Sun Conures are too loud for apartment living, so they are best kept in a house.
Qualities
Loud, playful, active, spunky, feisty, intelligent, rowdy, fun, curious, comical, acrobatic, enjoy head scratches, can have quite an attitude, love toys, love attention, can be cuddly, can be nippy, can be excellent “watch dogs”, tend to be one-person birds (unless they are well-socialized), some like to bob their heads.
Abilities
Good – Have the ability to talk, but aren’t great talkers, trainable and can be very good at tricks

Interaction/Time Requirements
Sun Conures are very social, so they require a lot of attention and can resort to screaming if they don’t get the attention they seek.
Diet
They need a diet for large birds.

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Map of Norway in which the light was observed in the red (Trøndelag) and blue (Northern Norway)
The Norwegian spiral anomaly of 2009 appeared in the night sky over Norway on 9 December 2009. It was visible from, and photographed from, northern Norway and Sweden. The spiral consisted of a blue beam of light with a greyish spiral emanating from one end of it. The light could be seen in all of Trøndelag to the south (the two red counties on the map to the right) and all across the three northern counties which compose Northern Norway, as well as from Northern Sweden and it lasted for 10 minutes. According to sources, it looked like a blue light coming from behind a mountain, stopping in mid-air, and starting to spiral outwards. A similar, though less spectacular event had also occurred in Norway the month before. Both events had the expected visual features of failed flights of Russian SLBM RSM-56 Bulava missiles, and the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged shortly after that such an event had taken place on 9 December.

Initial speculations

Hundreds of calls flooded the Norwegian Meteorological Institute as residents wanted to know what they were seeing. Norwegian celebrity astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard commented that he first speculated that it was a fireball meteor, but rejected that possibility because the light lasted too long. He also pointed out the area over which the light had been observed was exceptionally large, covering all of Northern Norway and Trøndelag. It was also suggested that it could have been a rare, never-before-seen Northern Lights variant.

UFO enthusiasts immediately began speculating whether the aerial light display could be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence proposing among other things that it could be a wormhole opening up, or somehow was linked to the recent high-energy experiments undertaken at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Official Russian explanation

On 10 December 2009, the Russia Ministry of Defence suggested an explanation, stating that a Bulava missile test had failed. According to a spokesman, "The missile's first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory." Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer stated to AFP that "such lights and clouds appear from time to time when a missile fails in the upper layers of the atmosphere and have been reported before ... At least this failed test made some nice fireworks for the Norwegians." Prior to the Russian statement, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, had already suggested that the unusual light display occurred when the missile's third stage nozzle was damaged, causing the exhaust to come out sideways and sending the missile into a spin.

Similar events

A much-viewed, though successful missile launch event took place on 7 November 2015. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the nominal missile trajectory was visible throughout Southern California and as far away as Nevada and Arizona. Numerous eyewitness videos[unreliable source?] and pictures were circulated on the Internet. According to Navy Commander Ryan Perry, the scene was created by an unarmed Trident II (D5) missile, launched by an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine in the Pacific Test Range. Perry said launches and tests are conducted on a frequent basis "to ensure the continued reliability of the system," and that "each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities."

Many videos of this phenomenon very similar to the Norway anomaly were uploaded and can be seen on popular video Web sites. See this video

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Acherontia atropos (Greater death's head hawkmoth) is the most widely known of the three species of death's-head hawkmoth. Acherontia species are notorious mainly for a vaguely skull-shaped pattern on the thorax.

Appearance

Acherontia atropos is a large hawk moth with a wingspan of 90–130 mm (about 3.5 to 5 inches), being the largest moth in some of the regions in which it occurs. The adult has the typical streamlined wings and body of the hawk moth family, Sphingidae. The upper wings are brown with slight yellow wavy lines; the lower wings are yellow with some wide brown waves. It rests during the day on trees or in the litter, holding the wings like a tent over the body.

The moth also has numerous other unusual features. It has the ability to emit a loud squeak if irritated. The sound is produced by expelling air from its proboscis. It often accompanies this sound with flashing its brightly marked abdomen in a further attempt to deter its predators. It is commonly observed raiding beehives for honey at night. Unlike the other species of Acherontia, it only attacks colonies of the well-known Western honey bee, Apis mellifera. It is attacked by guard bees at the entrance, but the thick cuticle and resistance to venom allow it to enter the hive. It is able to move about in hives unmolested because it mimics the scent of the bees.

The British entomological journal Atropos takes its name from this species.

Etymology

The species name Atropos is related to death, derived from atropos that may not be turned, from a-1 + -tropos (Greek: τρόπος) from trepein to turn. Atropos was one of the three Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. In addition the genus name Acherontia is derived from Acheron, a river in Greece, which in Greek mythology was known as the river of pain, and was one of the five rivers of the Greek underworld.

Distribution

Acherontia atropos occurs throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, much of Africa down to the southern tip, and increasingly as far north as southern Great Britain due to recently mild British winters. It occurs as far east as India and western Saudi Arabia, and as far west as the Canary Islands and Azores. It invades western Eurasia frequently, although few individuals successfully overwinter.

Development

There are several generations of Acherontia atropos per year, with continuous broods in Africa. In the northern parts of its range the species overwinters in the pupal stage. Eggs are laid singly under old leaves of Solanaceae: potato especially, but also Physalis and other nightshades. However it also has been recorded on members of the Verbenaceae, e.g. Lantana, and on members of the families Cannabaceae, Oleaceae, Pedaliaceae and others. The larvae are stout with a posterior horn, as is typical of larvae of the Sphingidae. Most sphingid larvae however, have fairly smooth posterior horns, possibly with a simple curve, either upward or downward. In contrast, Acherontia species and certain relatives bear a posterior horn embossed with round projections about the thicker part. The horn itself bends downwards near the base, but curls upwards towards the tip.

The newly hatched larva starts out a light shade of green but darkens after feeding, with yellow stripes diagonally on the sides. In the second instar, it has thorn-like horns on the back. In the third instar, purple or blue edging develops on the yellow stripes and the tail horn turns from black to yellow. In the final instar, the thorns disappear and the larva may adopt one of three color morphs: green, brown, or yellow. Larvae do not move much, and will click their mandibles or even bite if threatened, though the bite is effectively harmless to the human skin. The larva grows to about 120–130 mm, and pupates in an underground chamber. The pupa is smooth and glossy with the proboscis fused to the body, as in most Lepidoptera.

Life cycle

Larva (caterpillar)

Posterior of mature larva

Pupa

Imago
Folklore

Detail of the Acherontia atropos skull.

Death's-head Hawkmoth on Arum by Vincent van gogh, 1889. Although mostly representing a very different kind of moth (Saturnia pyri), the German title of the painting refers to the common name attributed to A. atropos.
In spite of the fact that Acherontia atropos is perfectly harmless except as a minor pest to crops and to beehives, the fancied skull pattern has burdened the moth with a negative reputation, such as associations with the supernatural and evil. There are numerous superstitions to the effect that the moth brings bad luck to the house into which it flies, and that death or grave misfortune may be expected to follow. More prosaically, in South Africa at least, uninformed people have claimed that the moth has a poisonous, often fatal, sting (possibly referring mainly to the proboscis, but sometimes to the horn on the posterior of the larva).

Acherontia atropos has been featured in various visual arts. It was painted by Vincent van Gogh in his Death's-head Hawkmoth on Arum (Grote nachtpauwoog), 1889. It appeared in The Hireling Shepherd, in Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and in movies such as Un chien andalou and the promotional marquee posters for The Silence of the Lambs. In the latter film the moth is used as a calling card by the serial killer "Buffalo Bill", though the movie script refers to Acherontia styx, and the moths that appear in the film are Acherontia atropos. In The Mothman Prophecies this moth is referred to. It also appears in the music video to Massive Attack's single, "Butterfly Caught."

The Death's-head moth is mentioned in Susan Hill's gothic horror novel, I'm the King of the Castle as it is used to instil fear in one of the young protagonists.

John Keats mentioned the moth as a symbol of death in his Ode to Melancholy, "Make not your rosary of yew-berries, / Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be / Your mournful Psyche".

In José Saramago's novel Death With Interruptions, Acherontia atropos appears on the American edition's cover, and is a topic that two characters mull over.

Caterpillar on the hand of an adult.

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moth fly
Acherontia lachesis, commonly known as Greater death's head hawkmoth, is a large (up to 13 cm wingspan) Sphingid moth found in India, Sri Lanka and much of the Oriental region, one of the three species of Death's-head Hawkmoth, also known as the Bee Robber. It is nocturnal, and very fond of honey; they can mimic the scent of honey bees so that they can enter a hive unharmed to get honey. Their tongue, which is stout and very strong, enables them to pierce the wax cells and suck the honey out. This species occurs throughout almost the entire Oriental region, from India, Pakistan and Nepal to the Philippines, and from southern Japan and the southern Russian Far East to Indonesia, where it attacks colonies of several different honey bee species. It has recently become established on the Hawaiian Islands.

larva (2) and pupa (2a)of Acherontia lachesis

Acherontia lachesis Female Dorsal view

Acherontia lachesis Female Ventral view
Description

A. lachesis is larger and much larger than Acherontia styx. The segmental bands and grey stripe occupying so much of the abdomen that only small patches of yellow are left. Hind wing with a large black patch at the base. The medial and post-medial bands so broad that only narrow bands of the yellow remain. Ventral side of abdomen is banded with black and wings banded with black and with a spot in the cell of each. Larva differs from A. styx in having blue streaks above the yellow ones; before pupating it turns brown and the oblique streaks disappear.

Development

Eggs are laid on a variety of hostplants, belonging to the families Solanaceae, Verbenaceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae, and Bignoniaceae, among others. Mature larvae can attain 125mm long, and occur in green, yellow, and brownish grey color forms (most commonly grey), with oblique body stripes and a prickly tail horn that is curled at the extreme tip. When molested the caterpillar throws the head and anterior segments of the body from side to side, at the same time making a rapidly repeated clicking noise, which appears to be produced by the mandibles. The larva pupates by pushing its head into the earth, burying itself, and making an ovoid chamber about 15 cm below the surface in which it sheds its skin.

Subspecies

Acherontia lachesis lachesis
Acherontia lachesis diehli Eitschberger, 2003
Ecology

The moth rests with the wings folded penthouse-wise, where the abdomen completely covered. When disturbed, it body raises from the surface on which it is sitting, and partially opening and raising the wings, and emitting a squealing note. Notable predators are mostly the parasitoids such as Amblyjoppa cognatoria, Quandrus pepsoides, and Drino atropivora.

Host plants

In their distribution countries, caterpillars are found on variety of plants such as Jasminum, Solanum tuberosum, Nicotiana tabacum, Tectona grandis, Datura, Ipomoea batatas, Clerodendrum kaempferi, Erythrina speciosa, Clerodendrum quadriloculare, Lantana camara, Sesamum indicum, Solanum melongena, Solanum verbascifolium, Stachytarpheta indica, Tithonia diversifolia, Solanum torvum, Spathodea campanulata, Vitex pinnata, Psilogramma menophron and Clerodendrum inerme.

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The Lesser death's head hawkmoth, (Acherontia styx) is a Sphingid moth found in Asia, one of the three species of Death's-head Hawkmoth, also known as the Bee Robber. It is very fond of honey and bee keepers have reported finding dead moths in their hives as a result of bee stings. They can mimic the scent of bees so that they can enter a hive unharmed to get honey. Their tongue, which is stout and very strong, enables them to pierce the wax cells of the beehive and suck the honey out. They are also known to be a pest of yuzu (Citrus junos) in South Korea, using their tongue to pierce and damage the fruit.

Description

Acherontia styx.jpg
This species is similar to the European A. atropos but differs in having two medial bands on the underside of the forewing, instead of one, and usually no dark bands across the ventral surface of the abdomen. The skull-like marking is darker and there is a faint blue tornal dot enclosed by a black submarginal band on the hindwing upperside. The forewing discal spot (stigma) is orange; in A. atropos it is usually white.

There are two described subspecies, A. s. styx, and A. s. medusa Moore, but they intergrade widely, and authorities presently consider that A. s. medusa is just a wet zone/season form, and not taxonomically distinct.

♂ A. s. styx

△ ♂ A. s. styx

♀ A. s. styx

△ ♀ A. s. styx

A. s. medusa Dorsal side

A. s. medusa △ Ventral side

Caterpillar

In, The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon And Burma Moths Vol-1, the species described as follows.

"Head brown; thorax dark blue-grey, with black lateral lines which meet behind; the center of the thorax occupied by a fulvous skull-mark with two black eyes; abdomen yellow, with blackish segmental bands and a blue-grey stripe down the vertex. Fore wing mottled with various shades of brown, fulvous and grey; three indistinct antemedial lines; a pale spot in the end of cell; two lunulate curved postmedial lines. Hind wing yellow with a postmedial black band not reaching the costa or anal angle; a similar submarginal maculate band.Differes from A. atropos in having two medial bands on the underside of the fore wing instead of one, and no bands on the underside of abdomen. Larva green, with oblique lateral yellow streaks on somites 4-10."

—The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon And Burma Moths Vol-1.
Development

Eggs are laid primarily on Bignoniaceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae, Pedaliaceae, Solanaceae and Verbenaceae. In India, the larvae sometimes occur in such numbers as to cause serious damage to crops, such as Sesamum indicum. Mature larvae can attain 120mm, and come in green, yellow, or brown color forms. Larvae closely resemble those of A. atropos except that the dark blue dorsal speckling is more pronounced on the anterior half of each abdominal segment, and the tail horn is less curved and lacks a reflexed tip. Pupation occurs in an underground chamber, excavated less than 10 cm below the surface of the soil.

Distribution

A death's-head Hawkmoth photographed in terrace of a house situated near Tiruvannamalai hill in Tamil Nadu, South India.
The variant referred to as A. styx medusa occurs throughout eastern continental Asia, from northeastern China (to where it is a migrant) and Japan, south through eastern China and Vietnam to Peninsular Malaysia and peninsular Thailand. Also found throughout the islands of the Malay Archipelago. A. s. styx occurs from north-central and western China westward across northern Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Iran to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Popular culture

An Acherontia styx pupa found in the soft palate of a murder victim is a vital clue in the thriller The Silence of the Lambs (film). The script accurately identifies the species as Acherontia styx when the character Roden performs a dissection and peels back the outer layer of the chrysalis revealing a skull (Death's head) image underneath.

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"Knot Grass" redirects here. For the plants, see knotgrass.
The Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed through the Palearctic - Europe, Western North Africa, through Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Ural mountains through Siberia, Russian Far East, Mongolia, northern China, Central Asia to Korea and Japan. In Europe lacking only in some areas of North-Western Scandinavia, Northern Scandinavia and Northern Russia. South in the Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Caucasus. Also in North-Western India.

The wingspan is 34–40 mm.Forewing dark grey, varied in places with whitish; lines and shades black; outer line marked by a white spot on the submedian fold ; hindwings brownish fuscous.Chinese and Japanese examples are larger than European and in all cases darker; in particular the lower half of forewing is blacker and the white spot of outer line then often obscured — ab. alnoides Geest has the costal half of forewing grey, the inner half blackish, somewhat interrupted, with a strong black dagger-shaped mark at base and above anal angle ; superficially resembles a dark grey alni ; recorded from Freiburg in Baden. — ab. euphorbiae Steph. nec Hbn. is grey brown, with the stigmata and space between them pale; and ab. euphrasiae Steph. née euphrasiae.Dup. is pale yellowish grey with numerous black lines and the orbicular stigma faint or obsolete, occurring in Cornwall.

The adults fly at night from May to July . They are attracted to light.

The larvae feed on a range of herbaceous plants including Salix caprea, Urtica, Rumex obtusifolius, Rubus fruticosus, Euphorbia cyparissias, Calluna vulgaris, Plantago lanceolata, Centaurea jacea, Taraxacum sect. Ruderalia. etc.

Habitats: found in almost all habitats, and are all very common. In the mountains they rise up to 1500 m above sea level.

Gallery

Caterpillar

Caterpillar

Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5

Pupa

Cocoon

Mounted

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The luna moth (Actias luna) is a lime-green, Nearctic Saturniid moth in the family Saturniidae, subfamily Saturniinae. It has a wingspan of up to 114 mm (4.5 in), making it one of the largest moths in North America.

Distribution

This moth is found in North America and Canada also, from east of the Great Plains in the United States to northern Mexico and from Saskatchewan eastward through central Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada. "Luna" moths are common as far south as Seminole County in central Florida.

Life cycle

Based on the climate in which they live, the luna moths produce differing numbers of generations. In Canada and northern regions, they can live up to 7 days and will produce only one generation per year. These reach adulthood from early June to early July. In the northeastern United States around New Jersey or New York, the moths produce two generations each year. The first of these appear in April and May, and the second group can be seen approximately nine to eleven weeks later. In the southern United States, there can be as many as three generations. These are spaced every eight to ten weeks beginning in February.

Females lay 400–600 eggs, 4–7 eggs at a time, on the underside of leaves, and they incubate for eight to thirteen days. The moths will lay more eggs in a favorable climate.

Each instar generally takes about five days to a week to complete. After hatching, the caterpillars tend to wander around before finally settling on eating the particular plant they are on. These caterpillars tend to be gregarious for the first two to three instars, but separate and live independently after that. These caterpillars go through five instars before cocooning. At the end of each instar, a small amount of silk is placed on the major vein of a leaf and the larva then undergoes apolysis. The caterpillar then undergoes ecdysis, or molts from that position leaving the old exoskeleton behind. Sometimes the shed exoskeleton is eaten. Each instar is green, though the first two instars do have some variation in which some caterpillars will have black underlying splotches on their dorsal side. Variation after the second instar is still noticeable, but slight. The dots that run along the dorsal side of the caterpillars vary from a light yellow to a dark magenta. The final instar grows to approximately nine centimeters in length.

Luna moth eye spot
The luna moth pupates after spinning a cocoon. The cocoon is thin and single layered. Shortly before pupation, the final, fifth instar caterpillar will engage in a "gut dump" where any excess water, food, feces, and fluids are expelled. The caterpillar will also have an underlying golden reddish‐brown color and become less active. As a pupa, this species is particularly active. When disturbed, if it feels threatened the moth will wiggle within its pupal case, producing a noise. Pupation takes approximately two weeks unless the individual is diapausing. The mechanisms for diapause are generally a mixture of genetic triggers, duration of sunlight or direct light during the day, and temperature.

Adults eclose, or emerge from their cocoons, in the morning. Their wings are very minute when they first emerge and they must enlarge them by pumping bodily liquids through them. During this time, their wings will be soft and they must climb somewhere safe to wait for their wings to harden before they can fly away. This process takes about 2 hours to complete. The luna moth typically has a wingspan of 8–11.5 cm (3.1–4.5 in), rarely exceeding 17.78 cm (7.00 in) with long, tapering hindwings, which have eyespots on them in order to confuse potential predators. Although rarely seen due to their very brief (1 week) adult lives, luna moths are considered common. As with all Saturniidae, the adults do not eat or have mouths. They emerge as adults solely to mate, and as such, only live approximately one week. They are more commonly seen at night. The males are distinguished from the females by their larger and wider antennae.

Their wing "tails" are expandable decoys that trick hungry bats; they are the moth's antipredator deflection strategy. As the echolocating hunter comes in for the kill, the moth's moving tails distract and fool the bat, knocking its attack off target; it may nab a bite of an extremity but seldom the whole insect.

Images of life cycle

Luna eggs

Hatching caterpillar

4th instar caterpillar

5th instar caterpillar spinning a cocoon

Male pupa

Male Actias luna drying its wings after eclosion

Mating adults

Female Actias luna

Host plants

The highly polyphagous caterpillars feed on the following host plants, with different localities specializing in certain hosts that cannot be used by populations elsewhere:

Betula (Birch)
Alnus (Alder)
Diospyros (Persimmon)
Liquidambar (Sweetgum)
Carya and Annamocarya (Hickory)
Juglans (Walnut)
Rhus (Sumac)
Ipomoea alba (Moonflower)
Platanus (Sycamore)
Ostrya (Hop hornbeam)
Carpinus (Hornbeam)
Ulmus (Elm)
Salix (Willow)
Fraxinus (Ash)

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The Indian moon moth or Indian luna moth (Actias selene) is a species of Saturniid moth from Asia. This species is popular among amateur entomologists and is often reared from eggs or cocoons that are available from commercial sources. They are also known to fly mainly at night.

Distribution

This moth is quite widespread, found from India to Japan and then south into Nepal, Ceylon, Borneo, and other islands in eastern Asia. Many subspecies live in Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Russia, China, Java, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, and Borneo.

Adult

Indian moon moth or Indian luna moth (Actias selene) WLB DSC 0211.jpg
Male: Head, thorax, and abdomen white; palpi pink, prothorax with a dark pink band; legs pink. Fore wing very pale green, white at base; a dark pink costal fascia, darkest along subcostal vein: an outwardly-oblique pale yellow antemedial line ; two inwardly-oblique slightly curved submarginal lines; a pale yellow marginal band; a dark red-brown lunule at end of cell, with a grey line on it, bounding inwardly a round ochreous spot with pinkish centre. Hind wing similar to the fore wing ; the central portion of the tail pinkish. Female: The outer margin less excised and waved; the yellow markings less developed; the antemedial line of fore wing nearer the base., and that on hind wing absent; the tail less pink.

Eggs are 2 mm, colored white with extensive black and brown mottling. Incubation lasts approximately 12 days and newly hatched larvae are red with a black abdominal saddle. Second instar larvae are all red with black heads. It is not until the third instar that larvae take on a green color. The developing larvae prefer humid conditions.

Larva apple-green; paired dorsal and lateral yellow spinous tubercles on each somite except the last; dorsal yellow hairs; lateral and ventral black hairs; the pad to anal claspers rufous.

Cocoon pale brown and oval.

Images of Life Cycle

Hatching Caterpillars

Newly hatched cats

Second instar larva with third instars in the background.

Fifth instar larva

Fifth instar larva closeup to show head and mouthparts

Last Moult Stage

Cocoon cut away to show prepupa stage

Actias selene, adult male

Host Plants

Liquidambar (sweetgum)
Rhododendron
Prunus (including cherry)
Malus (including apple)
Coriaria
Pieris (andromeda)
Hibiscus
Salix (willow)
Crataegus (hawthorn)
Photinia (red robin)
Juglans regia (walnut)
Banana

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The black arches or nun moth (Lymantria monacha) is a small Palaearctic moth. It is considered a forest pest.

Description

The moths of Lymantria monacha have a wingspan of 4 to 5 cm. They have white forewings with black connected wavy arches which gives the moth its name. The light brown hindwings have white fringes having black spots. They also have a characteristic biscuit-coloured abdomen with a black band. Females are larger and have elongated wings.

The eggs are oval, light brown or light red. Caterpillars are whitish grey to blackish, with grey hairs, red and blue warts, and a dark longitudinal dorsal line which is interrupted or broadened into spots in places. Pupa is golden glossy red-brown or dark brown, with reddish hairs dorsally and rather long anal point.

Technical description and variation

See glossary for terms used
White forewing with black basal spots and four sharply angulate black transverse lines, the second of which is the broadest; hindwing greyish white and grey. Abdomen light rosepink. The species varies strongly and has received the following aberrational names, nigra Fr. : The two central bands are confluent at the costal and posterior margins, forming black spots, or the whole median area is dark, the red of the abdomen usually weaker, eremita G. : Forewing and abdomen smoke-brown or blackish grey, the former with black markings, atra Linst.: Forewing uniformly black, without markings, hindwing greyish brown, abdomen black, lutea Anel is a light form in which the central bands are interrupted; the red colour of the ab domen is equally deep almost to the thorax, flavoabdominalis Schultz has the abdomen yellow instead of red; subfusca Schultz female is distinguished by everything which is black in true monacha being yellowish brown, and the abdomen being also yellowish brown instead of red; in obsoleta Schultz the dark transverse bands in the median area of the forewing are absent, while they remain in the basal and outer-marginal areas. All these names were given to European specimens.

Range

This moth can be found in most of Europe including British Isles and in temperate regions of the Palearctic East to Japan.

Life cycle

The larvae hibernate when young, remain together in batches and are fullgrown in June.

The larvae feed preferentially on spruce (Picea abies) and pine (Pinus sylvestris). They also feed on silver fir (Abies alba), European larch (Larix decidua), aspen (Populus tremula), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), European beech (Fagus sylvatica), pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), apple (Malus domestica), sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and bogberry (Vaccinium uliginosum). In spring the larvae consume the first buds, then later the needles. A single caterpillar eats about 200 pine, or 1000 spruce needles and twice as many are damaged by biting off. Spruces die at 70 percent needle loss and pine at 90 percent. There is also a danger also increased of secondary infections by longhorn beetles, bark beetles, fungi or other pathogens. Therefore, outbreaks can cause major damage in forestry.

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The Blastobasidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. Its species can be found almost anywhere in the world, though in some places they are not native but introduced by humans. In some arrangements, these moths are included in the case-bearer family (Coleophoridae) as subfamily Blastobasinae. The Symmocidae are sometimes included in the Blastobasidae (particularly if both are included in Coleophoridae) as subfamily or tribe.

In addition, the group around Holcocera is often separated as subfamily Holcocerinae (or tribe Holcocerini) from the Blastobasis lineage (which correspondingly become a subfamily, or a tribe Blastobasini). While this seems far more reasonable than some of the more extreme arrangements sometimes seen in Gelechioidea taxonomy and systematics, the relationships among Blastobasidae genera are not yet sufficiently studied to allow a well-supported subdivision of this family.

Description and ecology

The adults are generally small, slender moths which at a casual glance lack conspicuous and characteristic features – noted entomologist Edward Meyrick once described the group as "obscure and dull-coloured moths, decidedly the least attractive family of Lepidoptera". Their coloration is usually reddish-brown, without crisp streaks or large wingspots.

The head is smooth, with moderately long antennae (slightly more than half as long as the forewings) which are each situated halfway down the head. As usual for moths, the antennae do not have clubs; even in the males they are smooth or almost so and not at all comb-like. The antenna base bears a small brush of dense hairs and is flat, with a concave underside and may cover part of the compound eyes. The Blastobasidae have few or no bristles on the compound eyes, no ocelli, and probably lack chaetosemata too. The mouthparts are well-developed and moderately specialized, with 4-segmented folding maxillary palps, long labial palps and a long proboscis with a scaly base. The tibiae of the forelegs are enlarged at the end, those of the middle legs two spurs, and those of the hundlegs 4 spurs and many long thin hairs.

Wingspan in this family is about 12 to 24 mm, more than 10 times as much as the thorax width. The fore wings lack a tornus and are about 4-5 times as long as they are wide, with a convex outer margin and a rather blunt tip. The round-tipped hind wings are very narrow, of equal or somewhat less length as the fore wings, to which they are joined with a frenulum. The edge of the hind wings is surrounded by a fringe of hairs about two times as long as the wing is wide.

The wing venation of fore wings and hind wings differs. The fore wing has 12 veins altogether, with two anal veins – vein 1b and 1c, the former of which forks proximally – and a distally complete tubular vein (1c). The transverse vein is complete, and the discal cell has no tubular vein running through its middle. By contrast, the hindwings have seven or eight veins. Their anal veins are 1b and 1c like on the forewings; they lack vein 1a but also have the tubular vein 1c. Vein 1b may fork as in the forewings or remain unbranched, while a transverse vein may be present or not. Usually, five veins arise from the hind wing cell, of which the fourth and fifth are proximally joined; Blastobasis, however, might only have four cell veins, with veins 3 and 5 joined and vein 4 missing, but this is not universally accepted. Hind wing vein 8 either runs along the upper cell margin initially and anastomizes with it; possibly, it arises from the cell margin in some species, but in neither case it runs close to vein 7.

The caterpillars (larvae) have 10 prolegs and feed openly, usually on dead organic matter. Some species are pests of stored foodstuffs. The pupae are concealed and are not protruded during hatching.

Genera

Most of the roughly 30 genera of the Blastobasidae presently recognized are small or even monotypic, though Auximobasis and Pigritia are fairly diverse and Blastobasis and Holcocera are quite large. Such an arrangement is suspicious of not representing the true phylogeny of the family adequately; with few species having been compared in sufficient detail in recent times, it is to be expected that as better data become available, the two large genera will be split, and/or several small genera will not be maintained as distinct. Thus, the following list is likely to change in the future:

Blastobasinae Walsingham, 1894
Tribe Blastobasini
Auximobasis
Blastobasis
Mastema
Neoblastobasis
Zenodochium (sometimes in Blastobasis)
Tribe Pigritiini Dietz, 1910
Pigritia
Unplaced to tribe
Barbaloba
Coniogenes
Critoxena
Docostoma
Exinotis
Hallicis
Heredia
"Holcoceroides" Sinev, 1986 (non Strand, 1913: preoccupied)
Iconisma
Inbioxa
Koleps
Lateantenna
Metallocrates
Pheos
Prosintis
Pseudokoleps
Sirindhorn
Syncola
Xenopathia
Holcocerinae Adamski, 1989
Asaphocrita
Calosima
Holcocera
Hypatopa (sometimes in Holcocera)
Pseudohypatopa
Tecmerium

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Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mori the domesticated silkmoth or "silkworm" (properly, this refers to the caterpillars only). Unlike the domesticated relative which is unable to fly or indeed persist outside human care, the wild silkmoth is a fairly ordinary lepidopteran. Its main difference from the domesticated taxon is the more slender body with well-developed wings in males, and the dull greyish-brown color.

Phylogeny and systematics

Together, the two species constitute the genus Bombyx, the true or mulberry silkmoths. The origin of the domesticated silkmoth is enigmatic. It has been suggested that it is the survivor of an extinct species which diverged from the ancestors of Bombyx mandarina millions of years ago. However, this is based on an untenable molecular clock hypothesis that assumes that wild and domestic silkmoths evolved equally fast after their lineages diverged. Rather, the effects of artificial selection have accelerated evolution in the domestic form to a point where it is hard to trace the origin of the numerous breeds of domestic silkworms even with the most modern molecular phylogeny methods. Conceivably, today's domesticated silkworms are all descended from an initial stock of B. mandarina collected as late as 5000 years ago. While wild silk could have been collected and used as threads, etc., since much earlier, the technology to breed and use silkworms from a domesticated stock did not exist before the late Neolithic.

However, it has been possible to trace the geographical origin of the domestic silkmoth. The wild species occurs over a considerable range from inland China to Korea and Japan, and shows much (albeit subtle) variation. The populations from the northeastern end of the range, for example, differ in karyotype from those of inland China. Domestic silkmoths are closer to the latter regarding mtDNA sequence data, and especially lack some genetic apomorphies of the northeastern B. mandarina. Thus, the initial domestic stock came from China.

B. mandarina is able to hybridize with B. mori. Both in the wild and in a domesticated environment, females release pheromones and wait for males to be attracted and fly to them. However, B. mori males cannot fly. Hybridisation, therefore, inevitably means breeding between domestic (B. mori) females and wild (B. mandarina) males.

Consequently, the two silkmoths have been united as subspecies of a single species; in this case the name Bombyx mori which was published first applies for both. However, today it is usually recognized that the domesticated silkmoth is entirely dependent on human care for its survival and thus has a level of reproductive isolation from its wild relatives.

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"Silkworm" redirects here. For other uses, see Silkworm (disambiguation).
The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of the domesticated silk moth, Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree"). It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves (monophagous). Domestic silk moths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silk moths are different (having not been selectively bred) from their domestic cousins; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.

Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, from where it spread to Korea and Japan, India and later the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.

Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age; before then, the tools required to facilitate the manufacturing of larger quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.:342

Types

Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ('uni-'=one, 'voltine'=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea.

The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two lifecycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be located in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate lifecycles throughout the year.

Process

Adult silkworm moth

Wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. Hatchlings and second-instar larvae are called kego and chawki in India. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the instar phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.

After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few—the Bombycidae, in particular the Bombyx genus, and the Saturniidae, in particular the Antheraea genus—have been exploited for fabric production.

If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.

As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larvae, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semiwild silk moths. Ahimsa silk is promoted in parts of southern India for those who prefer not to wear silk produced by killing silkworms. Ahimsa silk is also known as peace silk. In the early 21st century, the organization PETA has campaigned against silk.

The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, contrary to the wild B. mandarina, whose males fly to meet females. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs), but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouth parts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.

Cocoon

Cocoon of B. mori
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft) long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm (0.0004 in) in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion pounds of cocoons.

Research

An egg of a silkworm. Perhaps the first study of a silkworm, it appeared in Hooke's Micrographia, 1665
Due to its miniature size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm.[citation needed] One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.[citation needed]

Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described.[citation needed] Another source suggests 1000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet.[citation needed] Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.

Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.

Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.

Domestication

The domesticated variety, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has also gained tolerance to human presence and handling and living in crowded conditions; it cannot fly, so needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. These changes have made it entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.

Silkworms and mulberry leaves placed on trays (Liang Kai's Sericulture circa 13th century)

Pupae

Silkworms cocoons weighed and sorted (Liang Kai's Sericulture)
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum output. It is next only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.[citation needed]

Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from an economical point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, disease resistance, etc. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (the shorter the larval duration, the lesser the chances of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.

Specific purposes apart from commercial purpose are given attention by advanced countries to breed development for specific purposes like sericin production, sex-limited breeds, thin/thick filament production, etc. Disease-resistance breeding is important, as the major reason for crop losses is pathogen infection. Efforts are being made to select breeds which are tolerant or resistant to various pathogens.[unreliable source?]

In the USA, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect lifecycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete lifecycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.

The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a noncommercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the lifecycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in the nonsilkfarming country of South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.

Genome

The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.

The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.

High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83% of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.

Cuisine

Silkworm pupae dishes
Like many insect species, silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.

In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi번데기.
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e. boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
^ "10 Weird Foods in India - Eri polu". February 2013.
^ Choi, Charles Q. (13 January 2009). "Care for a Silkworm With Your Tang?". ScienceNOW Daily News. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
Silkworm legends

See also: Horse in Chinese mythology § Origins of sericulture
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.

The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century CE. About 550 AD, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.

Silkworm diseases

Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pebrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, Nosema bombycis Nageli. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death.
N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. If silkworms get this disease in their worm stage, no visible symptoms occur. However, mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Traditional Chinese medicine

In traditional Chinese medicine, silkworm is the source of the "stiff silkworm", which is made from dried fourth- or fifth-instar larvae which have died of white muscardine disease (a lethal fungal infection). It is believed to dispel flatulence, dissolve phlegm, and relieve spasms.[citation needed]

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