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Larva
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
A banded woolly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella) with fuzzy black and orange bands crawls on a textured wooden surface.
Axolotl wearing a green paper hat in the style of Peter Pan, with speech bubble reading “I'll never grow up!”
Indian meal moth larva citrus swallowtail butterfly bags of the creosote bush bagworm moth Ox warble fly larva Ladybug larva Illustration showing seven types of beetle larvae, each with distinct shapes and textures, including white grub, linden borer, water-penny, aquatic beetles, carpet beetle, and buprestid larva, with scientific names labeled. Dragonfly larva Illustration showing the metamorphosis of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata), with seven stages labeled A to G. The top three show increasingly larger transparent larvae, followed by three transitional forms, and ending with a more developed, elongated glass eel.

Larva: References & Edit History

Article Contributors

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  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
    Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.

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Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Article title updated for style. Nov 06, 2026
Media added. Aug 28, 2025
Add new Web site: University of Anbar - Larva and types of larvae (PDF). Mar 14, 2025
Add new Web site: DigitalCommons at University of Nebraska - Lincoln - If larvae were smart: a simple model for optimal settlement behavior of competent larvae (PDF). Jan 31, 2025
Add new Web site: Cell Press - Current Biology - Larval Evolution: I�ll Tail You Later�. Sep 02, 2024
Add new Web site: Pressbooks Create - A Student�s Guide to Tropical Marine Biology - Larval Dispersal and Settlement. Jul 11, 2024
Add new Web site: A-Z Animals - Larva. Sep 29, 2023
Add new Web site: University of Kentucky - Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment - Recognizing Insect Larval Types. Aug 08, 2023
Removed media. Sep 22, 2021
Add new Web site: Monarch Joint Venture - Larva. Mar 28, 2021
Media added. May 06, 2014
Added new Web site: How Stuff Works - Animals - Larva. Jun 01, 2008
Article added to new online database. Jul 20, 1998
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