lar·va

(lär′və)

n. pl. lar·vae (-vē) or lar·vas

a. The newly hatched, wingless, often wormlike form of many insects, developing into a pupa in species that undergo complete metamorphosis.

b. The six-legged immature form of a tick or mite.

2. The newly hatched, earliest form of any of various animals that undergo metamorphosis, differing markedly in appearance from the adult.

3. Roman Mythology A malevolent spirit of the dead.

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

lar′val adj.

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, ghost, demon." The Latin word also was used to mean "a terrifying mask," such as one that might have been worn by a Roman performer in the role of such an evil spirit. In the 1600s and 1700s, scientists began to use the Latin word to describe the stage in an insect's life during which its final form is still hidden—the larval stage is a mask, so to speak, that the insect will later remove to reveal its adult appearance.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

larva

(ˈlɑːvə)

n, pl -vae (-viː)

(Zoology) an immature free-living form of many animals that develops into a different adult form by metamorphosis

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

ˈlarval adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

lar•va

(ˈlɑr və)

n., pl. -vae (-vi)

1. 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.

[1645–55; < New Latin; Latin larva ghost, mask (akin to Lar); compare imago]

lar′val, adj.

lar·va

(lär′və)

Plural larvae (lär′vē) or larvas

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 than 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 worm-like 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. Compare imago, nymph, pupa.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

larva - the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose

animal, animate being, beast, creature, fauna, brute - a living organism characterized by voluntary movement

ascidian tadpole - free-swimming larva of ascidians; they have a tail like a tadpole that contains the notochord

bladder worm - encysted saclike larva of the tapeworm

cercaria - tadpole-shaped parasitic larva of a trematode worm; tail disappears in adult stage

wireworm - wormlike larva of various elaterid beetles; feeds on roots of many crop plants

mealworm - the larva of beetles of the family Tenebrionidae

wiggler, wriggler - larva of a mosquito

jointworm, strawworm - larva of chalcid flies injurious to the straw of wheat and other grains

ant lion, antlion, doodlebug - the larva of any of several insects

aphid lion, aphis lion - carnivorous larva of lacewing flies

dobson, hellgrammiate - large brown aquatic larva of the dobsonfly; used as fishing bait

caseworm - insect larva that constructs a protective case around its body

caterpillar - a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth

nymph - a larva of an insect with incomplete metamorphosis (as the dragonfly or mayfly)

leptocephalus - slender transparent larva of eels and certain fishes

bot - botfly larva; typically develops inside the body of a horse or sheep or human

grub - a soft thick wormlike larva of certain beetles and other insects

polliwog, pollywog, tadpole - a larval frog or toad

Translations

يَرَقانَه

larva

larve

toukka

lirfa

larva

kūniņa

larve

larva

личинка

larv

kurtçuklârva

幼虫

larva

[ˈlɑːvə] N (larvae (pl)) [ˈlɑːviː] → larva f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

larva

[ˈlɑː^rvə] [larvae] [ˈlɑː^rviː] (pl) n → larve f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

larva

n pl <-e> → Larve f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

larva

[ˈlɑːvə] n (larvae (pl)) [ˈlɑːviː] → larva

larva

(ˈlaːvə) – plural ˈlarvae (-viː) – noun

a developing insect in its first stage after coming out of the egg; a grub or caterpillar.

ˈlarval adjective

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

"From that, we speculated that since nitric oxide also controls the timing of life cycle changes in the stages of other simple organisms, it may have a long evolutionary history of controlling life cycle transitions," explains Brandhorst, "allowing organisms to regulate when they become sexually mature, which in many animals involves going through metamorphosis from the larval stage to a juvenile or adult stage."

The birds and the bees

It also worked better when insects were soft-bodied, during the larval stage. In fact, the pepper extracts were found to be as efficient as the synthetic pesticide diazinon, which is being phased out of use in Canada and will not be available for sale for domestic use after December 31, 2004.--NL--

Pepper as a pesticide

The aquatic larval stage of red salamanders spends over three years in streams.

Salamanders of New York State. (Lake, Pond, & Stream)

bullata was inoculated onto the liver during the larval stage. Progress was inspected twice daily for four weeks.

Forensic entomology. (Junior Division)

"In the field you may have higher mortality rates because of the cumulative effect of being exposed to the toxin throughout the larval stage," said researcher Mr John Obrycki.

Researchers find GM corn kills butterflies

This difference in resting metabolic rate between adults and larvae at higher temperatures coupled with the "insensitivity" to temperature change exhibited by larvae between 0[degrees]C and 20[degrees]C indicates that possessing a larval stage of development may be beneficial to E.

EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE AND BODY MASS ON RESTING METABOLISM IN THE PLETHODONTID SALAMANDER, EURYCEA JUNALUSKA

A deterministic mathematical model was designed to: 1) predict the duration of the weakfish larval stage as afunction of prey density, 2) calculate the percent mortality incurred by weakfish larvae at any discrete prey density, and 3,) estimate critical rates of instantaneous mortality, rates at which a weakfish recruitment failure could occur.

A MODEL OF THE EFFECTS OF LIMITED PREY AVAILABILITY ON THE SURVIVAL OF WEAKFISH (CYNOCION REGALIS) LARVAE

Our specific objectives were fourfold: (1) to determine whether larger individuals at a given age (i.e., individuals larger-at-age) had a higher probability of survival (i.e., the "bigger-is-better" mechanism), (2) to determine whether faster growing individuals had a higher probability of survival (i.e., the "growth-rate" mechanism), (3) to determine whether individuals that had a shorter larval stage had a higher probability of survival (i.e., the "stage-duration" hypothesis), and (4) to calculate the correlations among larval size, growth rate, and development rate in order to assess the ability of the above three mechanisms to act independently.

Size, growth, development, and survival of the planktonic larvae of Pomatomus saltatrix (Pisces: Pomatomidae)

polymorpha is the only mollusk in most of the Great Lakes with a planktonic larval stage thus, problems associated with identification of larvae are avoided.

Variation in genotype frequencies during the life history of the bivalve, Dreissena polymorpha

Root maggots, another pest of cabbage, are the larval stage of small flies.

Controlling pests in cole crops

The total larval stage lasted 17.17+-1.94 days (Table II).

Predation Efficacy of the Predator Coccinella septempunctata L. on the Aphid Species Macrosiphum rosae (L.) in Kastamonu Province, Turkey

Thus, to assess the risk of pollen from crops that use pesticides and from GM crops on bee development, it is relevant to quantify the pollen consumed during the larval stage (Blacquiere et al., 2012; Lima et al., 2013).

Quantification of larval food and its pollen content in the diet of stingless bees--subsidies for toxicity bioassays studies