Bug: How do you know a True Bug? Are you being bugged?

Bug: How do you know a True Bug? 

 Are you being bugged?

Dr Abe V Rotor

  Harlequin Bug Nymph

Last instar of Stink Bug nymph. Note pair of wing pads.

 Adult Stink Bug

Insects are often called bugs. But the real bugs belong to Hemiptera, the Order of insects to which the Stink bug, bedbug, rice bug (atagia), black bug and green bug (Nezara viridula) are members.

True bugs emit a characteristic odor, specially when crushed. This is a practical way of telling an insect if it is really a bug. Bugs secrete a caustic substance that is corrosive to the eye and skin. (If affected, immediately wash with warm water and mild soap.)

Bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis - egg, nymph, and adult. Both the immature and mature insects have sucking mouth parts. They subsist on the sap of plants, resulting in stunting, defoliation and death of the host plants.

The term "bug" is a spy term. Bugged, means "being secretly monitored", usually with an electronic device, such as a miniature microphone.

Bugged could mean an exaggerated zeal for something (camera bug). It could mean the failing of a machine, or the compactness of a car (buggy). Think of the surreptitious nature and other adaptive ways of the bedbug.(Cimex lectularius) PHOTO ~