Bombyx mandarina
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Bombyx mandarina, the wild silk moth, is a species of moth in the family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mori, the domesticated silk moth. The larvae (caterpillars) of both species are called silkworms, famous for producing the fibroinous cocoon that is harvested by humans for silk.
Unlike its domesticated relative, who has lost the ability to fly and is too synanthropic to even survive outside human cultivation, B. mandarina is a fairly ordinary moth. The main difference between the wild B. mandarina and the domesticated B. mori is that the former has a more slender body with well-developed wings in males, and is dull greyish-brown in colour.
Bombyx mandarina and the domesticated Bombyx mori constitute two of the currently identified eight species of the genus Bombyx, the true or mulberry silk moths. The origin of the domestic silk moth is enigmatic. It has been suggested that it is the survivor of an extinct species that 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 silk moths evolved equally fast after their... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wild Silkmoth sighting in Taroko National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 272nd most-seen of the 447 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Wild Silkmoth in Taroko National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March, May, July–September and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wild Silkmoth sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Taroko National Park, in our data
Taroko National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Wild Silkmoth sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Bombycidae
The closest relatives of the Wild Silkmoth that you can see in Taroko National Park (family Bombycidae, Silkworm Moths) are Ernolatia moorei (about 20%) and Greenish Silk-Moth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wild Silkmoth is recorded against all the insects logged in Taroko National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
