List of animals that produce silk

Silk is produced by a variety of animals, for different purposes, with various types being produced.

Insects

 * Silkworms produce silk when undergoing larval to adult metamorphosis.
 * Raspy crickets produce silk to form nests.
 * Honeybee and bumblebee larvae produce silk to strengthen the wax cells in which they pupate.
 * Bulldog ants spin cocoons to protect themselves during pupation.
 * Weaver ants use silk to connect leaves together to make communal nests.
 * Caddisfly larvae produce silk.
 * Webspinners have silk glands on their front legs.
 * Hornets
 * Silverfish
 * Mayflies
 * Thrips
 * Leafhoppers produce silk nests under the leaves of the trees where they live, to protect them against predators.
 * Beetles
 * Lacewings
 * Fleas
 * Flies
 * Midges
 * Caterpillars of many butterfly species use silk to create shelters or attach to substrates for pupation.
 * Parasitic wasps such as braconids use silk cocoons for pupation.

Other animals

 * The family Projapygidae in the order Diplura have cerci that contain silk glands.
 * The mussel Pinna nobilis creates silk to bond itself to rocks. It is used to make sea silk.
 * Spiders make spider silk for various purposes such as weaving their webs, protecting their eggs or as a safety line.
 * The ampiphod Peramphithoe femorata uses silk to make a nest out of kelp blades. Another ampiphod, Crassicorophium bonellii, use silk to build shelter.
 * Carp produce fibroin units, a component of silk, to attach their eggs to rocks.
 * Spider mites make webs that protects them against predators.
 * Pseudoscorpions make silk chambers in which they molt.
 * Goats have been genetically modified to produce milk containing extractable silk proteins.
 * Dulichia rhabdoplastis