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I am ignorant in this field. If not an insect, what is it? [Serious question]
These are part of their own family of invertebrates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychophora
Insects are a specific family that have 6 legs. So a bee or an ant are insects but a spider or a rolls polly is not.
Excellent. No notes.
Well... The taxonomy of invertebrates is pretty complicated and diverse and there are many huge groups of invertebrates. Velvet worms (Onychophora) seem to be their own thing, so maybe just think of them as another invertebrate group. Like molluscs (snails, mussels, cephalopods), or tardigrades or nematodes, these are all their own groups as well. But obviously this is all much more complicated if you look at it in detail.
Insects are also invertebrates, but are just one group within the arthropods, which also contain e.g. spiders, crustaceans, millipedes. Maybe a good rule would be that there aren't any worms in the insects. And that all insects have six legs. So if something has more legs, it's not an insect.
Hope that helps? The more you dig down into taxonomy, the more interesting it gets!! And insect taxonomy in itself is just so huge and mind-boggling :)
It's a Pokémon [not a serious answer]
I can't help with what it is, but I can say why it can't be an insect. All insects have per definition exactly 6 legs.
But don't insect larvae sometimes look kind of like that
Yeah. Caterpillars are moth/butterfly larvae, which are insects. I think ant and termite larva are similar (but stumpier).
Mollusk probably (edit: snails and worms are mollusks)
They constitute their own phylum, Onychophora!
