| Wild Silkmoth | ||||||||||||||
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| Bombyx mandarina Moore, 1872 |
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Bombyx mori mandarina |
Bombyx mandarina, the Wild Silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. Frederic Moore FZS ( May 13, 1830 – May 10, 1907) was a British Entomologist. Year 1872 ( MDCCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year In Scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different Scientific names used for a single Taxon. A moth is an Insect closely related to the Butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. In Biological classification, family ( Latin Bombycidae is a family of Moths The best-known species is Bombyx mori ( Linnaeus) or silkworm native to northern China and domesticated It is the closest relative of Bombyx mori the Domesticated Silkmoth or "silkworm" (properly, this refers to the caterpillars only). Caterpillars are the Larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera (the Insect order comprising butterflies and Moths Unlike the domesticated relative which is unable to fly or indeed persist outside human care, the Wild Silkmoth is a fairly ordinary lepidopteran. Lepidoptera is an order of Insect that includes Moths and butterflies. Its main difference from the domesticated taxon is the more slender body with well-developed wings in males, and the dull greyish-brown color. A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to
Phylogeny and systematics
Together, the two species constitute the genus Bombyx, the true or mulberry silkmoths. A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic 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. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. However, this is based on an untenable molecular clock hypothesis that assumes that wild and domestic silkmoths evolved equally fast after their lineages diverged. The molecular clock (based on the molecular clock hypothesis ( MCH) is a technique in Molecular evolution to relate the divergence time of two Species 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. Artificial selection is the intentional breeding for certain traits or combinations of traits over others and is synonymous with " Selective breeding " (Yukuhiro et al. 2002)
It is not inconceivable that today's domestic silkworms are all descended from an initial stock of B. mandarina collected as late as 5000 years ago (Yoshitake 1968). While wild silk could have been collected and used as threads etc since much earler, the technology to breed and utilize silkworms from a domesticated stock did not exist before the late Neolithic. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos
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. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries a civilization and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. The populations from the northeastern end of the range, for example, differ in karyotype from those of inland China. A karyotype is the characteristic Chromosome complement of a Eukaryote Species. Domestic silkmoths are closer to the latter regarding mtDNA sequence data, and especially lack some genetic apomorphies of the northeastern B. Mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA) is the DNA located in Organelles called mitochondria. Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of Species based on evolutionary ancestry mandarina. Thus, it has been concluded that the initial domestic stock came from China. (Yukuhiro et al. 2002, Arunkumar et al. 2006)
Bombyx mandarina is able to hybridize with its domestic relative. In Biology, hybrid has two meanings The first meaning is the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different taxa. In a natural setting, this inevitably involves domestic females and wild males, as the former do not move abnout even in the wild taxon but release pheromones and wait for males to be attracted and fly to them, which of course is impossible for B. A taxon (plural taxa) or taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of Organisms In Biological nomenclature according to A pheromone (from Greek φέρω phero "to bear" + ‘ορμόνη " Hormone " is a Chemical that triggers a natural mori 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. In Zoology, as in other branches of Biology, subspecies is the Taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a Species. However, today it is usually recognized that the Domestic Silkmoth is entirely dependent on human care for its survival and thus has a level of reproductive isolation from its wild relatives. An important concept in evolutionary biology reproductive isolation is a category of mechanisms that prevent two or more Populations from exchanging genes
References
- Arunkumar, K. P. ; Metta, Muralidhar & Nagaraju, J. (2006): Molecular phylogeny of silkmoths reveals the origin of domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori from Chinese Bombyx mandarina and paternal inheritance of Antheraea proylei mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40(2): 419–427. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.023 (HTML abstract). A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document. Supplementary figure 1 (JPG) Supplementary figure 2 (JPG) Supplementary figure 3 (JPG)
- Yoshitake, N. (1968): Phylogenetic aspects on the origin of Japanese race of the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. . Journal of Sericological Sciences of Japan 37: 83–87.
- Yukuhiro, K. ; Sezutsu, H. ; Itoh, M. ; Shimizu, K. & Banno, Y. (2002): Significant Levels of Sequence Divergence and Gene Rearrangements have Occurred Between the Mitochondrial Genomes of the Wild Mulberry Silkmoth, Bombyx mandarina, and its Close Relative, the Domesticated Silkmoth, Bombyx mori. Molecular Biology and Evolution 19(8): 1385–1389. PDF fulltext
External links
- Japanese moths: Bombyx mandarina. Contains many photos. Retrieved 2007-JUL-18.
- Copulation between female B. mandarina (left) and male B. mori in captivity. Note stunted wings of male. Retrieved 2007-JUL-18.
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