During the creation of this grid I considered wor(m) for the insects but decided against it, I also decided against tse for the doubled syllables since the phrase is usually tsetse fly not tsetse, although I know it would be very nice to clue in the insects. I apologize if I used the wrong spelling of Gaia/Gaea because it seems like either is fine. I considered putting many gods in that category like (d)eva, (z)eus, (p)tah, and (a)res. An initial category was synonyms of each other using din and row but I couldn't find other good 3 letter words.

This got me good, I'm going for a lie down now. Your explanations help somewhat but the damage to my psyche had already been done by then! Excellent gridding.

Got the gnat etc but not the rest

A bit too out there.

Formidable! I tried! But I got all tangled up, good grid, though....

Well, that was different and I solved the wall but didn't get the same letter connection. Thank you for an interesting challenge.

Excellent grid- only solved one line but can appreciate it for the clever grid it is

So different to others, intriguing