When summer come , you may expect to see critters that fly , bite , and scuttle make the most of the ardent weather condition . But whether you tolerate these creepy crawlies or you ’d be happy to never see one again , you may ask yourself : Which are bugs and which are insects ?

hemipteron and worm are n’t necessarily the same thing . The two words are used interchangeably , withinsectsappearing mostly in scientific context of use andbugsbeing used more casually , but the difference of opinion between the condition comes down to more than just semantics . They both describe grouping in the brute kingdom recognized by scientific discipline .

The bounds around insects is clearer than it is around bug . Insects are a course of instruction in thephylumArthropoda , which also includes arachnids like spider , myriapods like centipedes , and crustacean like crawfish . Insects , along with all arthropods , have segment leg and hard outer layers called exoskeleton . Unlike some other arthropods , insect typically have six legs , two antennae , and a body segmented into three sections ( head , pectus , and abdomen ) . insect constitute a lot of the brute you tend to think of as bugs . Ants , grasshopper , bee , and fly are allinsects .

Spoiler alert: This ladybug isn’t actually a bug.

All bugs are insect , but under the proficient definition , not all insects are bugs . True bugs go to an order of louse scream Hemiptera . There are a few characteristics that discern glitch from other dirt ball : Most bugs have a straw - shaped oral fissure , or stylet , that they apply to either sap juice from plant or parentage from animals . They also tend to have long , segmentedantennaeand annex that are problematic and dismal where they come across the body and are thin and translucent at the final stage . True glitch include stink bug , bed hemipteron , water strider , and cicadas . bewilderingly , some insects withbugin their name are n’t really true hemipterous insect , likeladybugsandJune bugs(they’re both beetles ) .

When viewed from a lingual linear perspective , the line between glitch and insects start out fuzzy . Most mass imagine of bugs asany small , non - sea creature with more than four legs , which shroud everything from spiders to beetle to millipedes . That ’s why entomologist touch on to extremity of the monastic order Hemiptera as reliable bugs and not just glitch , because evenscientists are guiltyof using the term in a general means .

A version of this floor run in 2019 ; it has been update for 2023 .