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BobbyP27 t1_jdc1j5l wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Do insects have "meat" like other animals? I know that grubs, mealworms, etc. are eaten in some parts of the world, but if, for instance, beetles were the size of cows, could you butcher one and make beetle steak? by 9RFCat9

They are not literally insects, they are decapod crustaceans, but both crustaceans and insects are both arthropods. Taxonomically, within the phylum of arthropods, there is the subphylum of crustaceans, and within that the class Malacostraca (soft shell), which contains the order decapods, where crabs, lobsters and shrimp are found. Separately, within the phylum of arthropods is subphylum hexapods, within which the class insects exists. Insects and decapod crustaceans are relatively similar, but not the same.

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Ameisen t1_jdfvy3h wrote

Insects are actually a clade of the crustaceans. Their closest relatives are the remipedes.

That is to say that phylogenetically, all insects are crustaceans.

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