User:RV2014/sandbox
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Below are the sections that I will be adding to the existing article about Bombyx mandarina (existing article already has a lead section):
Taxonomy
This page is about Bombyx mandarina (scientific name). This organism is in the kingdom Animalia, the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Lepidoptera, family Bombycidae, and genus Bombyx Linnaeus [1]
Description
Color
Bombyx mandarina is typically a dark color -- brown [2][3]. Color is one of the differences between Bombyx mandarina (wild silkmoth) and Bombyx mori (domesticated silkmoth) because Bombyx mori is white, and according to Yu, Shen, and their research team, this could be due to TH gene expression [2][3] [4].
Head
Bombyx mandarina has rough-textured scales on its head. [3] This organism's head also has small labial palpi and two bipectinate antennae (one left antennae and one right antennae), and these antennae have lots of sensilla which have odor receptors on them, which help the moths with smell. [2] [5] [6][3] However, Bombyx mandarina does not have a maxillary palpi or a haustellum on its head [3].
Habitat
Life Cycle
The first life stage of a moth is the egg, and the egg of Bombyx mandarina is shaped like an ellipsoid with a major axis length of approximately 1.2 millimeters and a minor axis length of approximately 0.95 millimeters [8] [9] . In the micropyle, there is a star-shaped opening, which is where sperm are able to enter [9]. When this egg hatches (which takes about 9-13 days), it will be a caterpillar [8] [10] . The caterpillar is solitary and tends to disperse, and it will later turn into a pupa (whose cocoon shell weighs approximately 0.04 to 0.07 grams and has fibroin and sericin proteins), which will then become an adult moth. [8][11][12]
Diet
As larvae, silkmoths consume mulberry, which is important because they emit many compounds [2][5] . Silkmoths are able to find and move towards their food because one of the compounds called cis-jasmone is able to turn on a receptor on the silkworm’s antennae [5] . This receptor's name is BmOr-56 [5].
Enemies
Exorista sorbillans (which has the common name uzi fly) is harmful to Bombyx mandarina because Exorista sorbillans is endoparasitic [13][14].
Protective behavior
When wild silk moths look for food (mulberry leaves), they need to careful to protect themselves from their enemies in the wild, so they behave differently than the domesticated silk moth would; for instance, Komoto describes how the domesticated silk moths will begin waving, but that this would not work for wild silk moths because that would draw attention and make them more visible to predators or enemies. [2][11] For wild silk moths, one of the behaviors that they exhibit in order to protect themselves is that they will try to stretch out parts of their body in a way that makes them look like the twigs of the host plant so that they can blend in and not draw attention to themselves. [11] Another example of a protective behavior that Bombyx mandarina can use to protect themselves and avoid being detected is being still and motionless [11].
Physiology
Vision
Kryuchov and his team performed an experiment using AFM analysis (atomic force microscopy analysis), and one of the key results involved determining various aspects and characteristics of Bombyx mandarina cornea. [15] For instance, these researchers determined that Bombyx mandarina eyes are characterized by surface dimples on the cornea (which are important for various reasons, such as that they are able to provide anti reflection benefits for the Bombyx mandarina), that certain proteins on the chitin (such as CPR 83, CPH 30, CPR 19, and CPR 150) are needed in order to form their nano coating pattern (as described by the Turing reaction-diffusion model), and that they are approximately quasi-random (which is important because this means that the organisms is able to have more anti-reflective properties). [15]
Olfaction
Olfaction is an important process to Bombyx mandarina for a variety of reasons, such as its role in helping the organism with finding a host plant, finding a mate by detecting bombykol, et cetera. [2][5][10][16] [17] This wild silk moth is very similar to the domesticated silk moth, but they do have some differences. Research, such as the article “Captive Breeding for Thousands of Years has Impaired Olfactory Functions in Silkmoths,” has shown that there are some physiological differences that have arisen due to domestication [17]. The researchers demonstrate that the wild silkmoths had a greater amount of sensilia on their antennae, could smell better, and could find a host plant better [17] [2] .
Flight
Bombyx mandarina has a wingspan of approximately 19-64 millimeters, and its wings are triangle-shaped [3]. Although domesticated silkmoths like Bombyx mori are no longer able to fly, wild silkmoths like Bombyx mandarina can. [2][3]
Mating
Sex pheromones
In the study “Evaluation of Bombykol as the Sex Pheromone of Bombyx Mandarina(Lepidoptera : Bombycidae),” the researchers discuss that it was previously unclear what the correct sex pheromone was, but their results allowed them to confirm that it was the pheromone called bombykol[16], which the macroglomerular complex of the brain detects in the in the dorsal part [18] .
Mate searching behavior
A different study by Dr. Kuwahara investigated the attraction patterns of males to the females’ sex pheromone (bombykol) [10]. The researchers did field trapping in order to look at the flight times of the males moths, and they observed that it was most prominent in the morning time [10] . When the males were approaching the sex pheromone in this study, the researchers found that the males flew in a zig-zagging pattern and then would start to flutter their wings in order to find the bombykol [10] .
Interaction with Humans
Humans have had a significant impact on silkworms, and this goes back thousands of years [19][20]. Humans’ domestication of the wild silkworm was very purposeful; starting in China thousands of years ago, the domesticated form of the silkworm was used for its ability to produce silk [19][20] . This is called sericulture [20]. Then, due to the Silk Road, this process spread to other countries [19] [20].
