The moth family Notodonitade contains two genera of wild silk moths used in Africa, and the Pieridae, the family of butterflies containing the familiar whites and sulphars, has a representative in Mexico from which the silk has been used in to make fabric and paper (Table 1).

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Some of these silk producers have only ancient historical significance, but others have been used well into this century although little, if any, use is made of them today.

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Larvae of Gloveria (=Eutachyptera) psidii (Sallé) (Lasiocampidae) make a communal nest from which the silk was used by the Aztecs and by the two major indigenous peoples in the state of Oaxaca: the Mixtecs and the Zapotecs. Although Aztec attempts to subjugate the Oaxaca area were never successful, the Aztecs adopted some of the art and culture of the Mixtecs. The silk was supposedly an article of commerce during the time of Moctezuma II, whose reign was 1502-1519. The moth is found in many areas of Mexico including the states of Puebla, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, and Chiapas. The caterpillars feed on guava, Psidium guajava L. (Myrtaceae), and oak (Quercus spp.). Like the distantly related lasiocampids of the genus Malacosoma, the familiar tent caterpillars, the larvae of G. psidii live in the nest by day and leave it to feed on leaves at night. Large nests can be more than a meter long, but they average less than half that size. the ones at the Denver Museum of Natural History have a soft, light biege silk. Some confusion exists in the historical accounts as to whether this species or the following one was being referred to, but most authors consider that G. psidii was the main source of silk in the commerce of the ancient Mexicans before and during the time of Moctezuma.

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