Physical speed of insectoid lifeforms

Question

Would humanoid sized insectoid lifeforms be relatively slow considering that their exoskeleton would have to be rather heavy since it takes more 'armor' to get the same relative protection? Generally they are portrayed as very quick physically, but I think they would actually be slower, like a knight walking around; they would however likely be very strong.

Could someone use a little engineering or biology to support this?

Answer 1

Probably. Insectoids might be slower.

There are several issues though. When most people think "giant insects", they think of insects, only scaled up. Except, this is biologically and physically impossible. When you scale things up, the mass scales by the cube - you'll need very thick legs (think elephants) and most likely a standing posture. You'll also need a proper respiratory/cardiovascular system to transport all the extra oxygen required - not very insect-like if you ask me. Even the "giant insects" in the fossil record aren't so giant at all, they only have a large wingspan, and their body's cross-section is actually smaller than some of our giant beetles today.

But let's suppose we make those modifications and end up with something like a rhino with 6 legs. If we stopped here, then it would be about the same speed as a vertebrate of equivalent size. This is because the muscles involved are pretty much the same between insects and vertebrates, their strength is determined by their cross-section, which scales slower than mass. This is also one reason why bigger creatures are slower, relative to their body size. Insects are only fast (and strong) because they are small; there are plenty of fast, small non-insects like bats and lizards.

Now let's consider the protection. You mentioned "the same relative protection", but this quickly becomes impossible if you scale up too far. For physical reasons, materials become much weaker the bigger they are. Drop an ant from 100 times its height and it would walk away without a scratch. Do the same with a giant ant and it will crack like an egg. Our giant insect would need fancy materials for its exoskeleton to approach the same level of protection, maybe some form of metal (hey it's possible). But it still won't be of the same relative strength unless we start delving into cybernetics. And yes, the extra mass would make them even slower.

So to recap, for a realistic human-sized "insectoid", we'd have

• Breathing
• Same leg thickness
• Standing posture
• Same strength
• Slower speed (than vertebrates of similar size)
• Metallic exoskeleton

Doesn't sound like an insect to me. I suggest handwaving and/or magic.

Answer 2

As @congusbongus says, it isn't an "insect", true, but it is a lifeform with an exoskeleton rather than an endoskeleton. You won't get any strength above that of an exoskeletal lifeform of equivalent size and biology, save for the usual tradeoffs between speed and strength that you get by adjusting the muscle-skeletal lever ratios - muscles have a maximum contraction speed, and a maximum force output and by adjusting the lever ratios, you can emphasise some combination of speed and strength.