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]
• Webspinners have slik 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

Other animals

• The family Projapygidae in the order Diplura have cerci that contain silk glands.^[3]
• 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, protect their eggs or as a safety line.
• The crustacean Peramphithoe femorata use silk to make a nest out of kelp blades.
• Carp produce fibroin units, a component of silk, to attach their eggs to rocks.^[4]
• Spider mites makes web that protects them against predators.
• Goats have been genetically modified to produce milk containing extractable silk proteins.^[5]

References

External links

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