Aecidium mori was to "Peridiopsora mori" (Barclay) K.V. Prasad et al. 1993, a combination of all three names, but it has not been adopted at all in taxonomy. It was decided later in 1993 that "Aecidium mori" was a different, distinct species, and this taxonomic assignment was kept. All of these differ from the species of "A. mori". Mulberry rust is a disease caused by "Aecidium mori", which only occurs on the "Morus" plant, the familiar "mulberry". "Morus" is grown for the breeding of "Bombyx mori" (silkworms) as part of the silk industry. The leaves of the "Morus" plant are the only
Bombyx mandarina 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.