Silkworm Anatomy
It can be difficult to figure out which end of a silkworm larva is the head. In fact, the black part that looks like a mouth is the head, and the portion that looks most like a head is actually the insect’s thorax, or chest. The eye-shaped patterns along the sides of the silkworm’s body make the silkworm appear larger in order to ward off predators.
A silkworm has three pairs of legs attached to its thorax, and five pairs of “false” legs attached to the abdomen—a total of sixteen legs. Throughout their lifecycle, silkworms go through four distinct phases: egg, larva, pupa, and moth. A silkworm larva will shed its skin four times before creating a cocoon in which the pupa will become a moth. Once the metamorphosis is complete, only the three pairs of legs on the thorax remain.