Insectoid aliens

The term insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" (a suffix denoting similarity).

In technology, insectoid robots such as hexapods have been designed for scientific or military uses. Research continues to miniaturize these robots to be used as flying spies or scouts. Insectoid features may also increase the effectiveness of robots in traversing various terrains.

Insect-like creatures have been a part of the tradition of science fiction and fantasy. In the 1902 film A Trip to the Moon, Georges Méliès portrayed the Selenites of the moon as insectoid.Olaf Stapledon incorporates insectiods in his 1937 Star Maker novel. In the pulp fiction novels, insectoid creatures were frequently used as the antagonists threatening the damsel in distress. Later depictions of the hostile insect aliens include the antagonists in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers novel and the "buggers" in Orson Scott Card's Ender novels.

The hive queen has been a theme of novels including C. J. Cherryh's Serpent's Reach and the Alien film franchise. Sexuality has been addressed in Philip Jose Farmer's "The Lovers"Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis novels and China Miéville's Perdido Street Station

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