Which insect are you the most afraid of?

[Tziva]

Most insects do not bother me. I even actively like spiders, which is a fairly common phobia. And, I mean, there are bugs that I don't want to encounter for various reasons because they are pests... but afraid of? Pretty much none.

But fuck praying mantises. Fuck those things right to hell where they belong. *shudder*

Seriously though, when I was a young little brat, one of the first things that I was tought is that SPIDERS ARE NOT INSECTS.

Not biologically, but colloquially I'd say they are.

[Kaleredar]

Not biologically, but colloquially I'd say they are.

The only reason they're "colloquially" referred to as insects is because people don't know they're arachnids. Insect actually describes a taxonomic class, which arachnids are not in, not some "vague concept of creepy crawly things." "Insect" is a word that means something concrete.

Now, that's not always the case for some "colloquialisms." For example, people can call tomatoes vegetables... okay, well, there's no biological entity recognized as "vegetable." There's no "vegetable" class or order or subphylum or any of that. "Fruits" are indeed biologically identifiable structures... so it's not "biologically inaccurate" to call tomatoes vegetables, as vegetable means absolutely nothing in biology. But insect does mean something.

I mean, people might (and often do) "colloquially" refer to dimetrodon, plesiosaurs or pterosaurs as "dinosaurs" because they're big scaly things that lived a long time ago, but that does NOT make them dinosaurs... dinosaurs, like insects, have a definitive biological definition, which none of the three above prehistoric creatures actually belong to.

Spiders = not insects.

[Invid]

Not sure if any one has mentioned this yet, but I'm going with bed bugs.

[lockedout]

Not sure if any one has mentioned this yet, but I'm going with bed bugs.

Ha I was just going to type this. A friend of mine lived in a really nice luxury building, needless to say someone in his building got them and they spread to adjoining units. After seeing what he had to go through I am afraid of these more than spiders. Spiders come in second even if they aren't insects they are still, nope.

[Mshaylle]

Earwigs (been pinched by one, hurt like hell!), maggots and those little friggen worms that dangle from trees that you don't see till the last bloody minute >.<

[Al Gorefiend]

Earwigs (been pinched by one, hurt like hell!), maggots and those little friggen worms that dangle from trees that you don't see till the last bloody minute >.<

Aww man, how can you hate maggots? They get such a bad rep, they're amazing creatures.

[Eldar45]

Aww man, how can you hate maggots? They get such a bad rep, they're amazing creatures.

Amazing when you pour gasoline on them and watch them burn.


But as for me, mosquitoes. I was watching a show on animal planet a few weeks ago about the 1999 West Nile Outbreak... nope... nope

So much nope.

[Al Gorefiend]

Amazing when you pour gasoline on them and watch them burn.


But as for me, mosquitoes. I was watching a show on animal planet a few weeks ago about the 1999 West Nile Outbreak... nope... nope

So much nope.

Mosquitoes play an important role in human population control. Consider they kill 700,000 people a year. in one decade, thats 7 million more people on Earth in need of resources.

scary stuff, gotta respect and swat those nasty assholes at the same time.

[Alindra]

I really never understood the spider hate.

They have to be the most pragmatic yet misunderstood species ever.

It's not hate, it's fear. The thing about fear is it isn't (always) rational. I can absolutely agree that spiders can be an incredibly beneficial species. Logic, however, is secondary to primal fear/phobias. I wouldn't say I'm arachnophobic, but spiders are pretty high on my "nope!" list.

It's funny, really. Once I was at a animal fair of sorts and I got to hold an anaconda and I was perfectly comfortable. A kid walked by with a tarantula on his shoulder and I shuddered, logic be damned.

[Kaleredar]

Aww man, how can you hate maggots? They get such a bad rep, they're amazing creatures.

And mosquitoes are a foodsource to thousands of organisms. Doesn't mean we can't hate em.


Though I don't hate maggots. As long as they stay out of my food.

[Jakexe]

The biologist in me died a little reading this thread. I had no idea people are so clueless with basic animal classifications.

OT: The Japanese giant hornet has always had it's special place in my nightmares.

[Masark]

Mosquitoes. West Nile Virus sucks.

[Airlick]

The biologist in me died a little reading this thread. I had no idea people are so clueless with basic animal classifications.

OT: The Japanese giant hornet has always had it's special place in my nightmares.

Hornets, what is your profession?!

[Deleted]

Maggots are incredible creatures

[matty4weiro]

mosquitoes are the worst they killed millions of people every year

[Annoying]

I got bit by a black widow once. It was terrible. I don't normally kill spiders, but I'll gladly kill any black widow I run across.