Little hollow beside root for insect (6)
I believe the answer is:
beetle
'insect' is the definition.
(beetle is a kind of insect)
'little hollow beside root' is the wordplay.
'hollow' means to remove the middle letters.
'beside' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'root' becomes 'beet' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'little' with its middle taken out is 'le'.
'le' after 'beet' is 'BEETLE'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beetle that I've seen before include "Coleopterous insect" , "Dart" , "Hard-covered insect" , "An insect; a ramming tool" , "Coleopteran" .)