larva

1. The newly hatched, wingless, often wormlike form of many insects before metamorphosis.
2. The newly hatched, earliest stage of any of various animals that undergo metamorphosis, differing markedly in form and appearance from the adult.
3. Roman Mythology. A malevolent spirit of the dead; a lemur.

[Latin lārva, specter, mask (because it acts as a specter of or a mask for the adult form).]

WORD HISTORY   The word larva referring to the newly hatched form of insects before they undergo metamorphosis comes from the Latin word lārva, meaning "evil spirit, demon, devil." To understand why this should be so, first we need to know that the Latin word also was used for a terrifying mask, and in Medieval Latin it could mean "mask or visor." Larva is therefore an appropriate term for that stage of an insect's life during which its final form is still hidden or masked, and New Latin lārva was thus applied in 1691 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who originated our system of classifying plants and animals. The word larva is first recorded in English in its scientific sense in 1768, although it had been used in its "spirit" sense in 1651 in a way that foreshadowed the usage by Linnaeus.

For more information on larva, visit Britannica.com.

An independent, immature stage in a life cycle in which the stage is unlike the parent and must undergo changes in form and size to reach the adult stage. There may be one or several, three is common, larval stages in the one life cycle. In fish larvae are also called fry.

• l. currens — a variant of larva migrans caused by Strongyloides stercoralis, in which the linear progress of the lesions is much more rapid.
• cutaneous l. migrans — creeping eruption; a convoluted, thread-like skin eruption in humans and other species which appears to migrate; caused by the burrowing beneath the skin of roundworm larvae, particularly Ancylostoma, Strongyloides and Gnathostoma spp. A. braziliense, A. caninum, B. phlebotomum can cause the disease.
• ocular l. migrans — infection of the eye with the larvae of the roundworm Toxocara canis or T. cati, which may lodge in the choroid or retina or migrate to the vitreous; on the death of the larvae, a granulomatous inflammation occurs, the lesion varying from a translucent elevation of the retina to massive retinal detachment and pseudoglioma.
• visceral l. migrans — a condition due to prolonged migration of larvae of animal nematodes in human tissues other than skin, commonly caused by larvae of the roundworms Toxocara canis and T. cati.

For other uses, see Larva (disambiguation).

The caterpillar of Proserpinus proserpina, an insect larva

A larva (Latin; plural larvae) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.

The larva's appearance is generally very different from the adult form (eg. caterpillars and butterflies), and a larva can often have unique structures and larval organs that do not occur in the adult form. A larva's diet can be considerably different from its adult form.

Larvae are frequently adapted to environments separate from adults. For example, some larvae such as tadpoles live exclusively in aquatic environments, but as adults can live outside water as frogs. By living in distinct environments, larvae may be given shelter from predators and reduce competition for resources with the adult population.

Animals in the larval stage will consume food to fuel their transition into the adult form. Some species such as barnacles are immobile as adults, and use their mobile larvae form to distribute themselves.

The larvae of some species can become pubescent and not further develop into the adult form (for example, in some newts). This is a type of neoteny.

Eurosta solidaginis Goldenrod Gall Fly larva

It is a misunderstanding that the larval form always reflects the group's evolutionary history. It could be the case, but often the larval stage has evolved secondarily, as in insects. In these cases the larval form might differ more from the group's common origin than the adult form.

Names of various kinds of larvae:

Animal	Name of larva
Hydrozoa	planula
Many crustaceans	nauplius
Decapoda	zoea
Mayflies, Grasshoppers, True Bugs, etc.	nymph
Dragonflies, Damselflies	naiad, nymph
Butterflies and moths	caterpillar
Beetles, Bees, Wasps	grub
Flies	maggot
Mosquitos	wriggler
Certain molluscs, annelids	trochophore
Certain molluscs	veliger
Freshwater mussels	glochidium
Lamprey	ammocoete
Fish (generally)	larva
Eels	leptocephalus
Amphibians	tadpole, polliwog
Sea stars	Bipinnaria

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See also

• Chrysalis

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Common misspelling(s) of larvae

• lavae

Dansk (Danish)
n. - larve

Nederlands (Dutch)
larf, larve

Français (French)
n. - larve

Deutsch (German)
n. - Larve

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - προνύμφη, κάμπια (εντόμου)

Italiano (Italian)
larva

Português (Portuguese)
n. - larva (f) (Zool.)

Русский (Russian)
личинка, гусеница

Español (Spanish)
n. - larva

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (zool.) larv

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
幼虫

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 幼蟲

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 유충 , 애벌레

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 幼虫, 幼生

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) يرقه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮זחל‬

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