Sci-Fi Fantasy with a large ant and woman with jewels embedded on the underside of her forearm on the book cover

Question

I think the book was written the 1970's or 80's. Colonists have come to a planet and a symbiotic relationship is created with the large antlike aliens that live there. The book starts many years later and now the colonist and ants are grouped into clans with their own hives. The colonists can communicate with the ants with jewels embedded in their arms. The main character is a woman, and her clan is raided and killed by another clan at the beginning of the book, and she wants revenge. The relationship between the large ants and humans extends the humans' lives by hundreds of years.

Answer 1

Serpent's Reach (1980) by C.J. Cherryh...?

From a review:

Serpent’s Reach is set in an isolated region of space. The whole constellation is forbidden for outsider humans to settle and they’re only allowed to visit one planet. The reason is the local alien lifeform which is considered very unpredictable. The Majat, as they are called, are an insectoid hive mind species which at first can’t even understand the concept of individuality. Before the constellation was quarantined a group of humans settled there: humans and their genetically engineered slaves, the azi. By the time of this book, the humans have divided into two further groups: the House humans and what they call the Betas. The House humans (called Kontrin) are virtually immortal and possess limitless funds. They rule over everyone else and work with the Majat. They also sell azi to the Majat.

Raen is a young woman in the House of Meth-Maren, a high born human looking forward to a rigid life of duty. Then her entire House is slaughtered but other humans and Majat working together. She’s the only one to escape and she runs to the nearest Majat hive. The Blue Majat Queen agrees to help her and she wants revenge. She and the Blue hive warriors manage to attack Raen’s former home and kill all the invaders there. However, Raen is captured and the hive slaughtered.

Raen is brought before the Kontrin council. Many want to kill her too, but the two eldest Kontrin (Lian and Moth) protect her and just banish her. Raen still has her funds and is allowed to travel freely in Serpent’s Reach. She wanders seemly aimlessly for years, surviving assassination attempts and burning with the need for more revenge. When we see her again, she’s on transport to the corner planet Istra which is the only planet where outsiders are allowed to come. And she has a plan.

The cover features a giant ant-like creature behind a woman with a cluster of jewel-like objects on the back of her hand.