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<blockquote data-quote="Bob Blaylock" data-source="post: 708035" data-attributes="member: 16749">On looking again at your pictures, I think that the insect pictured there is a bug, not a beetle.&nbsp; By “bug”, I mean a true bug, an insect of the order <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera" target="_blank">Hemiptera</a>.&nbsp; The shape looks about right for a true bug, certainly more so than for a beetle.&nbsp; Beetles, by the way, are of the order <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle" target="_blank">Coleoptera</a>.&nbsp; I do think this is an immature form, as it does not appear to have wings.&nbsp; By the way, here's an interesting little bit of taxonomic information.&nbsp; True bugs, if they have “bug” as part of their common name, “bug” is treated as a separate word.&nbsp; For example, the stink bug, and the assassin bug.&nbsp; Insects that are not true bugs, if they have “bug” as part of their name, it's not treated as a separate word; it's appended to the rest of the name without an intervening space.&nbsp; For example, the ladybug or doodlebug or pillbug (which isn't even an insect at all).&nbsp; A similar convention pertains to the word “fly”.&nbsp; True flies are of the order <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly" target="_blank">Diptera</a>. A house fly is a true fly, as is a blow fly, a robber fly, and a crane fly.&nbsp; A butterfly is not a true fly, and neither is a firefly or a dragonfly.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bob Blaylock, post: 708035, member: 16749"] On looking again at your pictures, I think that the insect pictured there is a bug, not a beetle. By [i]“bug”[/i], I mean a true bug, an insect of the order [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera]Hemiptera[/url]. The shape looks about right for a true bug, certainly more so than for a beetle. Beetles, by the way, are of the order [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle]Coleoptera[/url]. I do think this is an immature form, as it does not appear to have wings. By the way, here's an interesting little bit of taxonomic information. True bugs, if they have [i]“bug”[/i] as part of their common name, [i]“bug”[/i] is treated as a separate word. For example, the stink bug, and the assassin bug. Insects that are not true bugs, if they have [i]“bug”[/i] as part of their name, it's not treated as a separate word; it's appended to the rest of the name without an intervening space. For example, the ladybug or doodlebug or pillbug (which isn't even an insect at all). A similar convention pertains to the word [i]“fly”[/i]. True flies are of the order [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly]Diptera[/url]. A house fly is a true fly, as is a blow fly, a robber fly, and a crane fly. A butterfly is not a true fly, and neither is a firefly or a dragonfly. [/QUOTE]

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