I’m writing up a list of misconceptions that people (particularly high schoolers) have about classifying animals. I would love to hear what animals you think people often confuse or misplace (e.g., “A dolphin is a fish!”). Give me your best confusing organisms! (Plants are good too). Here is my lis…

[image] teresamarieyawn: neither Spanish nor a moss Well, that depends on how strictly you define Spanish – whether New Spain and La Florida, when these were current geopolitical entities, counted as Spanish. People of that time would certainly have referred to it as Spanish territory and its…

That “invertebrates” are a thing. It’s a completely nonsensical term. It’s like saying “inarthropods”

Vertebrate bias. It’s a thing. I have it myself.

The most common spiders I see confused are grass spiders and wolf spiders, especially among those attempting to ID spiders when they have no prior knowledge of them, like how wolf spiders don’t build webs, and that most spiders are completely harmless. I can understand the confusion, as grass spider…

[image] spiderthumbs: Additionally, many people jump the conclusion that any ground dwelling spider in front of them is a recluse, especially yellow sac spiders and different kinds of wolf spiders. I have found that many people jump to the conclusion that any spider at all is a recluse, unles…

[image] sullivanribbit: I have found that many people jump to the conclusion that any spider at all is a recluse, unless it is a black widow. And that people who live where there are no recluses “know we have those here.”

Skippers (Hesperiidae) are often confused with moths as they have round eyes, small wings and dull colors but they’re butterflies. same goes to American moth-butterflies (Hedylidae)

Many people here do not know that harvestmen (Opiliones) are not spiders.

Lots of people think spiders are insects, it’s literally crazy and annoying sometimes how many people think that. And some people think that humans are not in the animal kingdom! Like what else kingdom would they be in? Some people think that mushrooms are plants even though they’re fungi and thei…

We have to realize that virtually every person who lacks an interest in organisms also lacks even a basic taxonomic framework in their mind. If they rely on common-use names for organisms, then animal and human are two different things. And animal typically refers to a vertebrate, so an insect is …

Confusing animals/Taxonomy Misconceptions

Educators

scharf June 5, 2026, 1:54pm 141

The striped things go together. Duh.

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Confusing animals/Taxonomy Misconceptions

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