ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 9, 2021
Bug experts are dropping the common name of a destructive insect because it’s considered an ethnic slur: the gypsy moth. The Entomological Society of America, which oversees the common names of bugs, is getting rid of the common name of that critter and the lesser-known gypsy ant. The group this week announced that for the first time it changed a common name of an insect because it was offensive. In the past they’ve only reassigned names that weren’t scientifically accurate.