A true bug’s an insect

but insects aren’t bugs

if they eat by chomp-chomp

instead of glug-glug.

 

Ants are not bugs.

They’ve got mandible jaws.

While a bug’s beaky tube

will get used like a straw.

 

Bugs feed on liquids

like plant-juice or blood

by piercing the skin

and then sucking, glug-glug.

 

Cicadas and bed-bugs

are glug-sucking guys.

But ladybird beetles

aren’t bugs – so get wise!

First published in Double Helix(September 2016)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO
www.doublehelix.csiro.au

 True bugs are suckers by Celia Berrell