Yeah, it gets brought up somewhere later in the book. It's been a while since I first read it and I do remember the part about the bug race being "perfect communists" but I don't remember if they were a true hivemind. I think it was more like certain castes of bugs didn't have any value beyond the collective so they just sacrifice themselves.

The book does point out that the bugs are intelligent, enough to use organized maneuvers and to even build spaceships. So it stands to reason that they could form some kind of alliance with the skinnies.