< On Spiders

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~fungmungus

I agree that the term "bug" as technically applied to hemipterans is kind of silly and forced. I tend to use the term "bug" even broader than just arthropods (though largely arthropods) but also to include things like worms and snails and slugs, pretty much anything that is small and can be found in the garden and woods and sometimes in your house. I'll even occasionally apply it to some crustaceans, namely shrimp, because it is fun to describe consuming them as eating "sea bugs." I guess "bug" is kind of like "vegetable" and "tree" in that these words do not have technical biological meanings, but are used widely in common language and serve as a broad descriptor for a variety of things that we all know to fit in the category.

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