Don’t discount diversity in the insect world

Are you annoyed when people get your name wrong? Think how the ladybug must feel. For more than 300 years, we’ve referred to this spotted critter as something it’s not — it’s neither lady nor bug.

Though we call them all ladies, males do exist. (Talk about a mistaken identity.) And both sexes lack features that make them true bugs; instead, they’re beetles.

“There’s a generalized use of bugs for all insects,” says Steve Krauth, curator of the entomology museum at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “People think they’re synonymous.”

They’re not. In fact, about only four percent of the more than 88,000 insects found in North America are actually bugs. Krauth estimates that about nine percent of his 2.5-million insect collection includes true bugs.

“True bugs have piercing, sucking mouth parts,” he explains. They also have six legs, a triangular section on their backs and a pair of half-leathery/half-membranous front wings. This last feature earns them their scientific name — Hemiptera.
“To call every insect a bug is just wrong,” says Krauth. “I try to teach people the difference so they can appreciate the diversity of insects.” Beetles, for instance, have one pair of shell-like wings that protect a pair of flexible flight wings beneath. But Krauth admits he’s not too bothered by everyone’s misuse of ‘bug,’ especially when he considers the word’s history.

“The term started out as a generalized term for insects, beetles, grubs and larvae,” explains Joan Hall, editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English and an UW–Madison researcher who studies the origins of words, or etymology — not to be confused with the study of bugs, or entomology. “It was only later that scientists decided to use it specifically for Hemiptera. But [everyone else] continued to use it for whatever creepy-crawly thing they encountered.”

For clarity, Krauth prefers calling the ladybug instead ladybird beetle. But, he admits, we should really refer to these black-spotted insects as coccinellidae: “It’s not only the scientific name, but it’s politically correct, too.”

To make an appointment to tour the extensive insect collection and to learn nifty facts about bugs, beetles, butterflies, bees and other insects, contact Krauth, (608) 262-0056, krauth@entomology.wisc.edu.