Insectoids in science fiction and fantasy

In science fiction and fantasy literature, the term insectoid ("insect-like") denotes any fantastical fictional creature sharing physical or other traits with ordinary insects (or arachnids). Most frequently, insect-like or spider-like extraterrestrial life forms is meant; in such cases convergent evolution may presumably be responsible for the existence of such creatures. Occasionally, an earth-bound setting — such as in the film The Fly (1958), in which a scientist is accidentally transformed into a grotesque human–fly hybrid, or Kafka's famous novella The Metamorphosis (1915), which does not bother to explain how a man becomes an enormous insect — is the venue.