A larva is an insect at the stage of its life after it has developed from an egg and before it changes into its adult form. The eggs quickly hatch into larvae. larvae a young insect with a soft tube-shaped body, which will later become an insect with wings = grub. Active, feeding stage in the development of many animals, occurring after birth or hatching and before the adult form is reached. Larvae are structurally different from adults and often are adapted to a different environment. Some species have free-living larvae but sessile (affixed) adults, the moving larvae thus helping to spread the species; others have aquatic larvae but terrestrial adults. Most larvae are tiny; many are dispersed by entering a host's body, where the adult form of the parasite emerges. Many invertebrates (e.g., cnidarians) have simple larvae. Flukes have several larval stages, and annelids, mollusks, and crustaceans have various larval forms. Insect larvae are called caterpillars, grubs, maggots, or worms; the larval stage of many insects may last much longer than the adult stage (e.g., some cicadas live 17 years as larvae and a week as adults). Echinoderms also have larval forms. The larvae of frogs and toads are called tadpoles. See also metamorphosis, pupa
a sexually immature juvenile stage of an animals life cycle However, there are a few exceptions, where the larval form never metamorphoses into the adult stage and is sexually mature (neoteny)
Syn: Grub, worm A young insect which quits the egg in an early stage of morphological development and differs fundamentally in form from the adult; in a strict zoological sense, the immature form of animals which undergo metamorphosis
A stage in the life cycle of an INSECT following emergence from the egg in those species where the young insect is markedly different from the adult A good example is a CATERPILLAR
(plural: larvae [lar-vee]): the immature stage of insects with complete metamorphosis, it has a completely different form than the adult (examples: maggot/fly, caterpillar/butterfly)