There’s a few scifi writers who have explored that. One, I can’t recall the name or book, but a recurring species in their books was insect-like creatures who separately weren’t anything more than Earth insects, but when close to others they linked up telepathically or somehow and not only had a hive super mind but would create a floating form of that “entity”.
What a twist it would be if it turned out insects were multiple times smarter than humans somehow.
There’s a few scifi writers who have explored that. One, I can’t recall the name or book, but a recurring species in their books was insect-like creatures who separately weren’t anything more than Earth insects, but when close to others they linked up telepathically or somehow and not only had a hive super mind but would create a floating form of that “entity”.
There’s also Children of Time
The final part of Kif Kroker’s species lifecycle?