| Abstract: | "This paper on the knowledge of the wild silkmoths (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) deals with some observations made in the Central Java Province and the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Daerah Istimewah Yogyakarta), Indonesia on the breeding of the wild silkworm Samia ricini (JONES, 1791), and the production of wild silks. After the well known Jogja Royal Silk closed, the wild silk breeding and production commenced again in Yogyakarta by a group of three families very recently in 2017. The marketing of the products runs under the name of Jamtra (Jantra Mas Sejahtera) and jamtra-silk. The silks are spun and woven by using of ATBM-tools (= Alat Tenun Bukan Mesin; ind., [= non-machine weaving tools] = handlooms).
Wild silks were observed being traditionally produced from cocoons of S. ricini reared in Yogyakarta and Central Java, cocoons of Attacus atlas (LINNAEUS, 1758) which were wild collected in Central Java and Yogyakarta and the region of Sukabumi, West Java, and cocoons of Cricula trifenestrata (HELFER, 1837) which were wild collected in Central Java and Yogyakarta. Silk of Bombyx mori (LINNAEUS, 1758) (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) reared in Pati (near Semarang), Central Java Province and now also imported from China was used as warp threads for the production of Cricula fabrics to reduce the price and for the stabilization of the final silk product. Rayon which was mainly imported from India was used as warp yarn for weaving of Attacus and mixed Attacus/Cricula fabrics for the same reason, to reduce the price of the final product and for the stabilization of the fabric. Rayon was mainly produced from Pinus sp. The final silk product contains about 50% of pure silk (weft yarns) and about 50% of rayon (warp yarns). Samia silk is also called Jantra silk and Sutera Singkong (= Singkong silk). The latter name is derived from singkong (= cassava), one of the two main food plants. Samia textiles were produced without adding further products and therefore contain 100% pure eri-silk. No particular names were established for the wild silks and their products in Yogyakarta so far, except for Samia silk which is called jantra by local people. Names commonly used in Yogyakarta are Samia silk, Attacus silk, and Cricula silk which are derived from the generic names of the appropriate wild silkmoth.
Some samples of cocoons, raw silk, silk yarn and the final silk products of C. trifenestrata, A. atlas, and S. ricini are preserved in the Research Collection of Ulrich and Laela H. Paukstadt (Wilhelmshaven, Germany), cf. http://www-.wildsilkmoth-indonesia.com/1coc_vis.html."
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