# Things that look like other things but are not those things **URL:** \ **Category:** Nature Talk\ **Created:** [January 31, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156 "2025-01-31T22:38:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ItsMeLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@ItsMeLucy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ItsMeLucy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/1 "2025-01-31T22:38:52Z")
I cannot be the only one who has ever been completely confused by what I see before me. For example, it took me a long time to stop photographing the wrong ends [of these](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53154266), because I kept thinking they were fireflies. [This](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129825514) took me a long time to settle on likely fly but even so I still hesitated so set it at Winged Insects. (I should have gone with my gut!) I truly thought [this was a very nervous bee](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89068034) with just really long arms who had learned to snatch pollen. It was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed. Kindly note that these are years ago. I _have_ improved in my general knowledge skillset; just now I plonked something at Fly rather than Winged Insects. Whee! (Also I have a better cameraphone.) Has anyone else ever completely mistaken one thing for another then later felt a bit daft? ---
**Author:** ![Thunderhead](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/thunderhead/32/62294_2.png) [@Thunderhead](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Thunderhead)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/2 "2025-01-31T23:09:32Z")
The short answer is YES!!I can understand your confusion, those are tough! It will take a bit before I can look for an example… I cannot tell the bumbles apart and so they are all bombus. I love that some really are called perplexing bumblebee! I do refrain from IDing them that way. ---
**Author:** ![swampster](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/swampster/32/37519_2.png) [@swampster](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/swampster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/3 "2025-02-01T00:18:46Z")
I definitely thought [this Wasp Mantidfly](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/25063861) was some sort of wasp-mimicking mantis. Then after seeing the name, I assumed it was a fly mimicking as a wasp-mimicking mantis. But it isn’t a wasp, a mantis, or a fly. ---
**Author:** ![whaichi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/whaichi/32/277_2.png) [@whaichi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/whaichi)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 5:25am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/4 "2025-02-01T05:25:36Z")
The first thing that comes to mind for me is [this observation](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/230019671) which I think might be _Hyleoglomeris koreana_, a type of millipede in [Superorder Oniscomorpha](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/999505-Oniscomorpha) that mimics Oniscideans (aka pill bugs, woodlice, roly-polies, armadillo bugs, butcher bugs, etc. in English). While taking that photo I thought it was a pill bug so got quite a surprise when I later learned about pill millipedes. ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 7:23am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/5 "2025-02-01T07:23:42Z")
> [@ItsMeLucy](#): > > wrong ends [of these](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/53154266) taxon picture makes it look as if [built of Lego blocks](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/201134)!! ---
**Author:** ![crellow](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/crellow/32/2265_2.png) [@crellow](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/crellow)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 8:32am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/6 "2025-02-01T08:32:15Z")
At first glance I thought this spider was some kind of obscure jumping spider. So I chased it through long grass for five minutes this evening, trying to get a clear shot of it, the poor thing. It’s a lynx spider. ![IMG_6040](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/8/e/8ee0b48e43dbe2d77311bd1c1ee6ad3dc59597b5.jpeg) Still very cool and mildly rare, mind you. But not exactly the first known photograph of a living specimen I was hoping for. ---
**Author:** ![erin-816](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/erin-816/32/57434_2.png) [@erin-816](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/erin-816)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/7 "2025-02-01T14:39:41Z")
> [@ItsMeLucy](#): > > it took me a long time to stop photographing the wrong ends I had the same experience when I found my first _[Danaus plexippus](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/92975461)_ **larva** 🐛 in my yard! I knew what it was, but was focused on the wrong end, and was further embarrassed to discover that the thing it had seemed “interested in”, was actually its poop! ![20200806_144631](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/d/3/d3cba353079d7d59e96326d7cddad89be9d77aaf.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Thunderhead](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/thunderhead/32/62294_2.png) [@Thunderhead](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Thunderhead)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/8 "2025-02-01T18:27:43Z")
It’s true I have too many photos of larva butts by mistake. These are confusing to me, it seems I have to relearn them every year. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/0/3/03114cd431f21c7a3fb373f4fa375a19188ad3ed.jpeg) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/4/a/4aff47a703d0b0ebb3cb1dc816214ae5a9bf585d.jpeg) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/1/a/1a9cb4e7af3d893f2992979c6e40c382b2e44740.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/things-that-look-like-other-things-but-are-not-those-things/61156/9 "2025-04-02T18:28:01Z")
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