Hot answers tagged animales
7
Both bed bugs and the insects that spread the protozoan that causes Chagas disease are insects of the order Hemiptera. Bugs of this order are commonly referred to in Spanish as chinches, so this is a good name for either.
So yes, both bugs are closely related. If you want to differentiate, you can always be specific (or pedantic!) and use their scientific ...
5
The verb picar is definitely the most common (in my experience, in Spain) for insect (and related) bites. However, morder is also used. For example, Wikipedia shows 211,000 hits for "picadura de araña" vs. 147,000 for "mordedura de araña".
Like in English, picar is more associated to a stinger and morder to a mandible or biting device. Notice that ...
4
Technically, "possum" refers to species of the suborder Phalangeriformes, distributed in Australia. However, "opossums" are also commonly called possums (in America).
So, "Falangero" is correct for "possum", and it's derived from the latin name of the suborder they belong (Phalangeriformes). Anyway, I guess possums are not quite common animals. For "opossum" ...
3
My Larousse Gran Diccionario lists two Spanish words for the two animals refereed to as "possum" in English:
-1. US (opossum) zarigüeya f; IDIOM Fam to play possum (pretend to be asleep) hacerse el dormido/la dormida; (pretend to know nothing) hacerse el sueco/la sueca
-2. Austr (marsupial) falangero m
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