Wild silk used to produce cloth. They usually produce a tougher and rougher silk than that from domesticated "Bombyx mori" silkworms. Wild silks are usually harvested after the moths have left the cocoons, cutting the threads in the process, so that there is not one long thread, as with domesticated silkworms. Wild silks are more difficult to bleach and dye than silk from "Bombyx mori", but most have naturally attractive colours, particularly the rich golden sheen of the silk produced by the muga silkworm from Assam, often known as Assam silk. The cocoon shells of wild silk moths are toughened or stabilized
Bombyx mandarina Bombyx mandarina 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 colour. "Bombyx mandarina" and the domesticated "Bombyx mori" constitute two of the currently identified eight species of the genus "Bombyx", the