#see there is bug sensu stricto

[msexcelfractal]

But that’s the thing, I’m hooked on clades! If a Stink bug is a bug, and a starfish is a bug, then the last common ancestor of the stink bug and the starfish must be a bug. And that’s my ancestor! I’m a bug, Transcyberism! A big bug, with so many derived features that I don’t look buggy at all.

Similarly the octopus: legs, no spine, and an exoskeleton. An exoskeleton? Yes, a highly modified exoskeleton, currently in use as a beak. The beak of the squid is a homolog to the shell of the snail.

I think I did not stop being a bug when I grew a spine. Just like I didn’t stop being a tetrapod when I stood upright.

And as long as I’m calling myself a bug, how can I exclude this handsome young fellow?

Exoskeleton, check. It’s made of cellulose!

No spine at all, check.

Legs? It’s a stretch, but there is one flexible limb used for locomotion. So I’m counting it.

We have a bug! A single celled bug. Therefore, thinking with clades, all animals are bugs, even the coral polyp.

You can certainly argue that this convention makes “bug” a meaningless term. But I disagree. A bug is any living thing with a special place in my heart <3