silkworm
sil kwerm
- n the commercially bred hairless white caterpillar of the domestic silkworm moth which spins a cocoon that can be processed to yield silk fiber; the principal source of commercial silk
- n larva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon
- Its students can learn that the creature with the most sensitive sniffer is the male silkworm moth, which can detect a female two miles away; that the longest place name belongs to .
- In one experiment, a female emperor in a gauze cage collected 127 males of her species in seven hours; male Chinese silkworm moths have been known to home in on intended mates .
- The top spot went to a firm in Jiangsu province busted for adulterating its nationally sold nutritional supplement, supposedly made from silkworm chrysalis.