this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] Corno@lemm.ee 40 points 2 years ago (2 children)
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[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 38 points 2 years ago (4 children)

What's with all these weird names for a pill bug.

[–] ReplicantBatty@lemmy.one 79 points 2 years ago (6 children)

It's called a roly-poly and I will tolerate no disagreement, good day to you

[–] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 39 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They roly and they poly. No better names exist.

[–] SadSadSatellite@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 years ago

I would've been with you until I saw Grumper Pig.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'll accept carpet shrimp.

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[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Re: your username: Is a Replicant Batty Coda just a normal Batty Coda? He's already a cyborg with crappy/ intermittent reception.

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[–] smeg@feddit.uk 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This is the first time I've heard anyone call them anything other than a woodlouse

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 years ago

You must be referring to the Woodlouse Hunter which hunts... *checks notes ...Granny Grunters.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I only ever called them woodlouses when I learned that name as a teenager because everyone here always called them "roly-polies" or "potato bugs."

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[–] protist@mander.xyz 33 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Their family name is Armadillidae (arm-a-dill-a-dee) which also just sounds silly

[–] Metostopholes@midwest.social 23 points 2 years ago

Aww, tiny armadillos!

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 years ago

Armadillidae

Not to be confused with Armadillidiidae.

🙃

[–] TheEEEdiot@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 years ago

It's a Roly Poly btw.

[–] Heavybell@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Probably the cutest insect, and they do us no harm. Unshocking they have a collection of amusing names.

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Apparently, they're not actually insects, but rather crustaceans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse

[–] ThoGot@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Crustaceans are basically ocean insects, fite me

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[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Syd@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This would have made the Spanish version of A Bugs Life interesting.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

... on consideration, it is the same joke.

[–] OlPatchy2Eyes@slrpnk.net 20 points 2 years ago

It's because they roll up into a cute little ball and it tickles us in a way nothing else does

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 years ago (4 children)

This is a weird question but everyone else could smell these, right? Like a weird bitter, musty smell. That post about people smelling ants a while back made me wonder what other bugs not all people smell.

[–] Corno@lemm.ee 25 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They excrete ammonia through their exoskeleton because they don't actually pee! I've only noticed a smell from them when they're in large groups. They may be a bit smelly, and a lot of people mislabel them as insects, but they're actually terrestrial isopods and are related to crabs and shrimps!

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago

Welp, that explains why the Netherlands calls these bugs "bedpissers"

[–] Glimpythegoblin@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah they smell like stinky wood/almonds to me.

[–] Boxscape@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago

stinky wood/almonds

Isn't almonds also the scent reported by those genetically-equipped to smell cyanide?

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Not me! Do you smell ants? I think it’s a genetic trait.

[–] WhipperSnapper@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Certain ants are pretty distinct. Thatch ants spray formic acid as a defense, and will have a sour smell (and taste, or so I've been told). Odoriferous house ants are named so for obvious reason, and smell (to me) like pen ink. Assuming they taste terrible, but I dunno anyone who's tasted one.

Also, for what it's worth, my entomologist father refers to the thread's subject as "sow bugs", so that's how I know them, but pill bugs and rolly polly are common here.

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[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I’ve never noticed an ant smell, if I had to guess I’d assume it’s some different chemical I’m picking up on from the pill bugs.

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[–] Fjern@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Norwegian, a loved one goes by many names..

Melkedyr: Milk bugs

Benkebitere: Bench biters

Kaffetroll: Coffee trolls

Munkebiller: Monk beetles

Kaffelus: Coffee lice

Munkelus: Monk lice

Moldokser: Mold oxen

Kaffedyr: Coffee bugs

Tusselus: Goblin lice

Paddelus: Toad lice

Potetroll: Potato trolls

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

note to self: don't buy coffee in Norway

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

Mold oxen

Because of the antennae! That's adorable.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] ZeffSyde@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm my head a doodle bug is more like a beetle with long segmented legs that kind of bobs around as it doodles along.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Yeah, we all have our own tags for critters. Went looking online for doodle bugs and most all of the links pointed to ant lions. We called those sand diggers when I was a kid.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 years ago

They’re good lil guys

[–] Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Me in Australia: Now that's a real Butchy boy.

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[–] TastyWheat@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Forbidden boba

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I was taught they were called pill bugs. Although I knew them as also roly polys. My mother called them pill bugs, the other kids called them roly polys.

She told me it was an east coast versus west coast name and clearly is more "every group of people had decided they wanted to name this thing themselves" XD

I mean I have a pair of aquatic sowbugs I've been keeping in an empty yogurt cup. They look like regular sowbugs but they're underwater, hence aquatic sowbug.

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