New Distributional Record of Tasar Silkmoth Antheraea mylitta Drury (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) from Terai region, West Bengal, India

Tropical tasar or Antheraea mylitta is a commercially important non-mulberry silkworm that produces the world famous Indian tropical tasar silk. So far forty-four ecoraces of the species have been reported from different states of India. In West Bengal, previously it had been recorded from the Southern part including Kolkata and the hill region of North Bengal. In June 2020, two beautifully coloured, large-sized male and female tasar moths, a mature tasar worm and an emerged tasar cocoon is observed on the Ber plant or Indian jujube plant (Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.) a secondary food plant of tasar silkworm near Farabari, Siliguri subdivision of Terai agro-ecological zone, West Bengal. This new record updates the present distribution of tasar moth in West Bengal. An attempt has been made in the present work to report the existence of Antheraea mylitta Drury along with photographs from Terai region, West Bengal, India. During the investigation, length and breadth with wing expanded of female and male tasar moth measured about 6cm, 15.4cm and 5.3cm, 14cm respectively. The mature larva was 10.1cm in length, 2.3cm in width and 30.62g in weight. The colour of emerged cocoon was grayish brown, having a shell weight of 1.62g. Based on the present report, further investigation may be carried out in the future to identify the ecorace along with its economic importance in Sericulture.

@article{dipak2026,
  author  = {Dipak Paul*},
  title   = {{New Distributional Record of Tasar Silkmoth Antheraea mylitta Drury (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) from Terai region, West Bengal, India}},
  journal = {Journal of Bioresearch},
  year    = {2026},
  volume  = {2},
  number  = {1},
  doi     = {https://doi.org/10.56716/4/1114},
}