this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
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We didn't have a single term around here.
Most common was punkin bug, or pumpkin bug for you damn yankees.
But, roly-poly, tomato bug, and pill bug were all in common usage.
What's interesting to me is that they were also called doodle bugs, despite a completely different bug also being called that. Doodle bug is also used for ant lions around here; indeed, that's what they're called almost exclusively.
They were both called that for the same reason, the little doodly tracks they leave in fine sand and soil, though if a punkin bug is on that, they're going elsewhere because they don't really like those conditions.
I'm also from the south, and pumpkin bugs and tomato bugs are totally different things. Pumpkin bugs aka squash bugs are Anasa tristis, and tomato bugs are Engytatus modestus. I've never once heard anyone call roly polys pumpkin or tomato bugs
All I can say is that people be trippin. When I have asked people why they call them that, the usual is "I dunno, I guess they look like pumpkins, that's just what my family called them, so I do too".
I suspect that it comes down to nobody really remembering why a bug is called its colloquial name, nor bothering to ask or explain, and after while, the mistake becomes the norm. Kids mislabel stuff a lot, and spread things faster than they do germs. Easy for weird things to slip in.
Like how people call crane flies "mosquito hawks" but crane flies don't even have mouths as adults and don't eat mosquitoes. People don't realize you can call a crane fly a gollywhopper and be more accurate.
That's a perfect example!