How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains

Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by panxie on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @11:56AM (#13473064)

In English is it correct to say spiders are insects? In my native language (portuguese) it would be not accurate, as they are arachnida class, along with scorpions,mites and ticks.

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by sqeaky on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @01:08PM (#13473852)

A good word for something that encompasses all things creepy, crawly and tiny without involving scientific classification is "bug". Most english would agree that most spiders, ants, bees, centipedes and other like it are all bugs.

This breaks down in Australia where the spiders are as big as your head or in Puerto Rico where the foot long centipedes eat bats. Those aren't bugs, those are nightmare fuel.

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by david-given on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @02:41PM (#13474755)

'Bug' in that context is mostly American dialect. I'm British, and 'bug' in that context is infantile; by adults, it's either a verb or a small device planted by MI5.

But the OP is right, of course. Spiders are not insects. Although I suspect that most people I'd talk to in the UK would call them such. I'll have to hand in my Pedant's Society card (which is actually made out of plastic)...

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by dghughes on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @03:34PM (#13475203)

Then again the little grey oval Pill bug is a crustacean not an insect and not an arachnid.

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by pacaro on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @03:58PM (#13475376)

And also another source of British vs. American dialect difference/confusion. In my experience, they're known in the U.K. as "woodlice", but in the US it's entirely reasonable for grown adults to refer to them as "roly-polys"

The American use of "critter" also bemuses

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by hnal943 on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @04:54PM (#13475979)

"critter" is a corruption of "creature" and distinctly southern USA (to my Midwestern ears).

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by nickff on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @11:59AM (#13473098)

Spiders are not insects; from Wikipedia:

"terrestrial arthropods, such as centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, and spiders, are sometimes confused with insects"[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect#Phylogeny_and_evolution

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by chc on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @12:46PM (#13473603)

It's not correct, but it's a pretty common mistake to refer to bugs in general as "insects."

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by pavel_lishin on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @12:58PM (#13473739)

And even saying "bugs in general" is technically inaccurate!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by BurningFrog on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @02:52PM (#13474842)

Not among biologists :)

In real life many people call spiders insects, either from ignorance or from not caring about the distinction.

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by khazhou on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @04:30PM (#13475704)

Mostly, though, to humiliate them.

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by mratzloff on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @12:11PM (#13473244)

No, it's not.

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Re:How insects like bumblebees do so much with tiny brains by dspillett on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @05:43AM (#13480313)

No, they are not referred to as insects in (correct) English either, they are arachnids - though sometimes people do not make the distinction.

To refer to both insects and spiders & similar in one term you could use the (rather less formal) terms "bugs" or "creepy crawlies". I can 't think of anything more formal off the top of my head.

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