Are moths, technically speaking, bugs?

Good Day zpatch-ga,


Thank you for your question.

"Moths are closely related to the butterflies; both belong to the
Lepidoptera [derived from the Greek 'lepis' = scale and 'pteron' =
wing]."

Source: Butterfly Conservation
URL: http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/index.html?/species/moth_intro/moths.html

There are 25 different groups of insects, one of them being the
Lepidoptera.  As you learned above the Lepidoptera is the family of
butterflies and moths. This makes the butterfly part of the VERY LARGE
group of bugs.

Source: World of Wonder - BUGS
URL: http://triefeldt.com/triefeldt.com/BUGS/Bugs.html

If you feel that my answer could be improved through more information,
please ask for a clarification before rating my answer.

Search Strategy:
Google Search for "moths"+"what are"
Google Search for "Lepidoptera"+"bugs"


Regards,
slawek-ga

The answer provided some good background, but was not technically
correct. THe comments from two other Researcher, however, provided
just what I was looking for. THank you , Rissos and Knowledge_Seeker.

On a technicality, I would have to disagree with the answer above. The
problem is the definition of a bug. If you take the word bug to mean
insects in general, most commonly used in North America, then the
answer is correct. However, if you take the scientific definition of a
bug, then it is not. To entymologists, those who study insects, a bug
is a member of the order Hemiptera - insects with piercing mouthparts,
eg. assassin bugs, bedbugs,leafhoppers and aphids. As stated above,
moths are members of order Lepidoptera, and so to an entymologist, are
not bugs.

Rissos is correct. 

The only "true" bugs, according to entomologists, are those insects in
the Order Hemiptera.

See some samples here:
http://www.insects.org/entophiles/hemiptera/

Moths are in the Order Lepidoptera, along with butterflies and
skippers.

See examples here: 
http://www.insects.org/entophiles/lepidoptera/index_2.html

So no, technically a moth would not be considered a true "bug." 

-K~

If it has six legs, three body segments (Head, abdomen, and thorax),
and 4 wings... it's an insect.