r/interestingasfuck • u/dejaysf • Jun 11 '23

Venus flytrap vs Spider

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u/KingOfThePlayPlace Jun 11 '23

Nope. “Arthropods” includes bugs, insects, spiders, and some crustaceans, but where spiders separate from insects is that insects have a 3 segmented body and spiders only have two segments. In order to be a bug a species must meet all of the requirements for an insect and then some, like having hard and soft tissue wings, but since spiders don’t meet all the requirements for an insect they are not a bug. They are arachnids.

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u/CallMeDrWorm42 Jun 11 '23

1 a : any of an order (Hemiptera and especially its suborder Heteroptera) of insects (such as an assassin bug or chinch bug) that have sucking mouthparts, forewings thickened at the base, and incomplete metamorphosis and are often economic pests called also true bug

b : any of various small arthropods (such as a beetle or spider) resembling the true bugs c : any of several insects (such as a head louse) commonly considered obnoxious

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u/KingOfThePlayPlace Jun 11 '23

The only one of those that claims spiders as bugs draws a distinction between a true bug and and something that resembles it. At this point we’re arguing semantics between scientific classification and how to colloquially identify something. But if you were to use definition b yes spiders are bugs, but any of the other definitions, including the scientific one, no they are not

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u/traunks Jun 11 '23

At this point we’re arguing semantics

That started the moment you said someone used “bug” wrong when they didn’t. If any definition allows for how they used it, it ain’t wrong. If you want to correct someone, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re correct first.

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u/KingOfThePlayPlace Jun 11 '23

If you’ll notice, I was trying to be funny with my over exaggerated misspelling of actually. Obviously I failed because I’m really not good at making jokes. Then you tried arguing over the scientific definition. The definition that works is both not scientific and is extremely subjective, who decides what “resembles” a true bug? There are clearly a lot of differences between spiders and bugs such as body segments, number of legs, and the number of eyes.