It can be hard to believe, but there are plenty of people out there who really love bugs.

Not nearly as many people as are squicked out by them, but still – bug love transcends language and continent!

This critter is dubbed a “living fossil” and was named New Zealand’s “Bug of the Year,” and the way it turns its prey into soup is pretty unique (and gross), too.

The celebrated bug is the velvet worm (Peripatoides novaezealandiae), and its title was bestowed by The Entomological Society of New Zealand. From its odd appearance to the difficulty experts had classifying them, these bugs likely haven’t changed or evolved for over 500 million years.

Not only does that make them “living fossils,” but some experts say the fact that they share physical traits with both annelid worms and arthropods makes them something of a “missing link” between the two.

It’s fuzzy and small, kind of cute if you squint, which makes it extra weird to find out that they turn their unsuspecting prey – usually a termite, beetle, or something similar – into soup before slurping them down.

To do this, the velvet worm shoots a sticky slime from small projections near its mouth. The slime traps the prey, then as the worm begins to chew it, injecting it with saliva that begins the process of digestion. Before long, the other bug’s insides are all liquid and (presumably) delicious.

If you’re a velvet worm.

Worms like this one are reclusive and not often studied, so we don’t really know what, if any, conservation efforts they require. Local wildlife biologists feel like this species, like its cousins, is likely under threat due to habitat loss that introduces new predators to the area.

The Bug of the Year competition is meant to bring awareness and knowledge, and from that, understanding and conservation.

We all have our place on this planet.

And I mean, I can understand a love of soup.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read a story that reveals Earth’s priciest precious metal isn’t gold or platinum and costs over $10,000 an ounce!