Sunday Rest: detritivore. Word Not To Use Today

A detritivore eats, yes, detritus.

Mmm...lovely...

The word detritivore's use is usually restricted to those useful animals which tidy away all the various droppings of the rest of us, such a millipedes:


photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim

(these are being particularly loving, ahhhh...)

butterflies:


photo by Charlesjsharp,  Sharp Photography, sharpphotography

(if you want to lure a Purple Emperor butterfly like this closer then what you really need is a nice fresh bit of dog poo. Yum!)

or crabs:


photo by Denise Chan

(that's a fiddler crab).

As I say, we owe these creatures a huge debt of gratitude, and calling them detritivores is, I think, rather unkind. (There're also called detritiphages, but that's even worse.) I think we should call them housekeepers or cleaners or something that shows some gratitude and respect.

Ah well. I suppose in many instances we can always fall back on teenager, can't we.

Word Not To Use Today: detritivore. This word comes from the French détritus, from the Latin dētritus, a rubbing away. The -vore bit is from the Latin vorāre to swallow up.