larva

[ lahr-vuh ]

noun

, plural lar·vae [lahr, -vee].

1. Entomology. the immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.
2. any animal in an analogous immature form.
3. the young of any invertebrate animal.
4. larvae, Roman Antiquity. malignant ghosts, as lemures.

larva

/ ˈlɑːvə /

noun

1. an immature free-living form of many animals that develops into a different adult form by metamorphosis

larva

/ lär′və /

, Plural larvae lär′vē

1. An animal in an early stage of development that differs greatly in appearance from its adult stage. Larvae are adapted to a different environment and way of life from those of adults and go through a process of metamorphosis in changing to adults. Tadpoles are the larvae of frogs and toads.
2. The immature, wingless, and usually wormlike feeding form of those insects that undergo three stages of metamorphosis, such as butterflies, moths, and beetles. Insect larvae hatch from eggs, later turn into pupae, and finally turn into adults.
3. Compare imago

Derived Forms

• ˈlarval, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of larva¹

First recorded in 1645–55; from New Latin; special use of Latin larva “a ghost, specter, mask, skeleton”; akin to Lares

Word History and Origins

Origin of larva¹

C18: (C17 in the original Latin sense: ghost): New Latin

Example Sentences

The larvae are also protected by the bark of the tree, meaning that it might need to be even colder to knock them out.

From Popular-Science

Meanwhile, skinks — which made up 28 percent of the host animals captured — had 92 percent of the larvae and 98 percent of the nymphs.

From Science News

This is very uncommon for flies, where the adults and larvae often live in very different environments and feed on very different food.

From Popular-Science

All larvae have mouthparts, though some can be very simple in structure, and are adapted for chewing or sucking at foods that range from plants to flesh.

From Popular-Science

If so, any impacts might have had to wait until those larvae grew into adults.

From Science News For Students

When summer comes, adult beetles attack and larva feed in the cambium layer, girdling the trees and sealing their doom.

From The Daily Beast

The entire larva is black and the segments of the body possess numerous tubercles bearing setae.

From Project Gutenberg

As soon as it hatches the larva attacks the cricket in the belly at the chosen spot where the egg has been layed.

From Project Gutenberg

The larva of the hemerolicus feeds also on the aphides, and deposits its eggs on the leaves of such plants as are beset with them.

From Project Gutenberg

What a shelter for the larva of this Pompilus: the warm retreat and downy hammock of the Segestria!

From Project Gutenberg

No doubt the food for her family, the larva of which I possess the empty skin, now an unrecognizable shred.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• grub
• worm