What is "bombyx"

Bombyx \Bom"byx\ (b[o^]m"b[i^]ks), n. [L., silkworm. See Bombazine.] (Zo["o]l.) A genus of moths, which includes the silkworm moth. See Silkworm. [1913 Webster] ||

n. Any member of the genus ''Bombyx'' of true silkmoths, whose caterpillars often feed on mulberry.

Bombyx is the genus of true silkmoths or mulberry silkmoths of the family Bombycidae. For a few thousand years, people only recognised two species, but then several other less important species were discovered, and the genus contains two tested hybrid species, a semi-natural cross between a female Bombyx mori and a male Bombyx mandarina, and another hybrid the other way around from the first.