I've suggested (way back in 2012) slapping some antenna on elves and giving them some organic-looking armor--in other words, reskinning them as the 80s Sectaurs action figures. I think the relationship between the faerie and insects makes elves ripe for this twist. I liked the idea so much, I made the elf stand-in species the Ieldra in my Gnydrion science fantasy setting have more insect like with brood queens and instars.
Back to regular old elves, though, I think replacing the Tolkien-inspired nations/tribes (or "subraces" in older D&D) of elves with insect-themed groupings has a lot to recommend it. For one, that group of bad elves, the drow, already have that sort of relationship with spiders (yes, I know they are arachnids, not insects), so there would be a certain symmetry in it.
What particular insect type would depend on specifically how you envisioned them. Organized, social wood elves might be patterned after wasps or bees, but maybe they are solitary warrior badasses like Crow from Hawk the Slayer with more affinity for mantises?
I think the aloof gray elves would have the bushy antenna and pale complexions like some sort of moth, along with an ethereal strangeness. High elves might be bee-like (and matriarchal) or nimble warriors like dragonflies or damselflies.
I know that Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadow of the Apt series has insect-themed races, so their might be some inspiration there, but I haven't read them to say. I know you could do a lot worse than checking out Bug Wars by Aaron and Asrar.
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Bug Wars is a 1979 scifi novel by Robert Asprin, one of his few stand-alone books and sadly nowhere near as well-remembered as his MythAdvenures and Phule's Company series, much less his contributions to the Thieves' World shared world anthologies that he helped found (and which arguably primed the pump for a whole bunch to similar projects around the same era). Light military scifi, noteworthy for the POV character being a reptilian alien leading a squad of the same against what amounts to a coalition of giant insect species. No humans appear at all or are even mentioned (IIRC we may not have evolved yet), which also sets it apart a bit.
Has nothing to do with elfsects or that other book by the same name (is that young adult?) but if the title's been cribbed now the
original merits a callout.
They did this in Spelljammer, somewhat. There was an elven-ish race with antennae. In one of the Monster compendiums; I'm not sure which.
Terraformars manga, friend.
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