Rex Trulove
Quite often, the names that are commonly used for plants and animals are actually misnomers. For instance, a strawberry isn’t a berry and it has nothing to do with straw. Yet, ‘strawberry’ is a common name that people use and recognize.
In this quiz, we’ll look at flies. Many insects that contain “fly” in the name aren’t flies. Other insects that don’t contain the word ‘fly’ are actually flies. This can be somewhat confusing. How many of the following can you correctly state are or are not flies?
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Question of
Whiteflies are common pests in gardens. Are whiteflies flies?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Found from the tropics to the arctic circle, mosquitoes are one of the widest ranging creatures on Earth. Are mosquitoes flies?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
A horse fly (Tabanus sulcifrons) is another blood-sucking insect that often bites not only horses, but also other large animals, including people. Is a horse fly a fly?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Dragonflies can be found almost anywhere that fresh water sources can be found. One of the most ancient flying insects, is a dragonfly a fly?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
There are over 14,000 kinds of caddisflies and most of them spend most of their lives in the larval state, at the bottom of streams, lakes, ponds, and rivers. The larvae are usually predatory but the adults don’t eat and only live a few days. Is a caddisfly a fly?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
As the common name implies, hoverflies are often seen hovering almost motionless in the air, usually near flowers. The adults eat primarily nectar. Are hoverflies flies?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Some gnats are biting insects while others aren’t. The larvae usually feed on plants and the male gnats are sometimes seen in dense clouds called “ghosts”. Are gnats flies?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
The sheep tick (Melophagus ovinus) is a blood-eating insect that sometimes infests sheep. They will occasionally also bite people or other animals, but most often infest sheep. Is a sheep tick a fly?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Robber flies are insects that feed exclusively on other insects, which they usually catch in the air. Is a robber fly a fly?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Scorpion flies are insects that are predatory or eat carrion. Is a scorpion fly a fly?
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Yes
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No
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I goy 8 out of 10.Nice
Do you enjoy making quizzes?
I usually do, in fact. Quizzes take me substantially longer to create than articles, but I do still enjoy it, especially if I see an opportunity to teach something new at the same time. :))
I agree I like to do them do but lately its been really hard with it not letting you add then you have to save it and go back over and over to get all 8 or more questions in
9 out of 10. That last question got me.
That is an excellent score. Scorpionflies are actually in their own insect order, by the way. :)) In many cases, they are among the first insects that arrive at a corpse, so they’ve been used for some time in forensic science, to determine the time of death.
I hate fleis and mosquitos… that explain my pontuation 3 out of 10 😀
That is very understandable.
<b<They're so pesky and they irritate my skin since I have eczema.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever met anyone who actually liked mosquitoes or most flies. LOL
I goy 8 out of 10. I didn’t think I would do that well since I don’t know much about flies.
That is a very good score. You apparently know more about flies than you thought. :))
You got 5 out of 10 right!
Not so bad
You’re right, that isn’t bad at all!
Got 7 right, did not know a sheep tick was a fly, interesting quiz.
That one might surprise a lot of people. However, it is definitely not a tick, despite the name. If you look at the picture, sheep ticks have six legs, which makes them insects. Ticks are arachnids and have eight legs. :)) You got a good score!
And I thought I noticed everything but didn’t realize how many legs he had.
7/10 Indeed Thanks For Sharing Rex!!!
That is a good score! Good job!
..Thank You so much Sir!
5/10 – not so hot! I was going on counting wings, but this is clearly not always a sound guide! The sheep tick was interesting – where are the wings? Incidentally, strawberries were traditionally grown on beds of straw – hence the name, maybe?
The wings are sometimes atrophied, so that isn’t reliable. In the case of the sheep tick, the wings aren’t even evident. It does rather look like a tick, too, except that it only has six legs and not eight.
The problem with the origin of the word, ‘strawberry’, is that the word was in use long before strawberries were first grown domestically, in Brittany. One theory has it that cattle browsed in fields where strawberries were growing wild. The cattle were naturally augmented with hay. The manure would naturally contain some of the straw from the hay and it would presumably also have wild strawberry seeds in it. It isn’t a stretch to figure that someone along the line saw wild strawberries growing near piles of manure and drew the conclusion that the berries came from the straw. The fact that they aren’t, in fact, berries wouldn’t even enter into it. LOL
Mind you, that is only a theory and one of many.