1. The wormlike developmental stage or stages of an insect or helminth that are markedly different from the adult and undergo subsequent metamorphosis; a grub, maggot, or caterpillar. 2. The second stage in the life cycle of a tick; the stage which hatches from the egg and, following engorgement, molts into the nymph. 3. The young of fishes or amphibians which often differ in appearance from the adult. [L. a mask]
- filariform l. infective third-stage l. of the hookworm, Ascaris, and other nematodes with penetrating larvae or with larvae that migrate through the body to reach the intestine.
- rhabditiform l. early developmental larval stages (first and second) of soil-borne nematodes such as Necator, Ancylostoma, and Strongyloides, which precede the infectious third-stage filariform l..
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1) the immature, wingless, and often wormlike feeding form that hatches from the egg of many insects, alters chiefly in size while passing through several molts, and is finally transformed into a pupa or chrysalis from which the adult emerges
2) the early form of an animal (as a frog) that at birth or hatching is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose before assuming the adult characters
lar·val -vəl adj
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n. (pl. larvae)
the preadult or immature stage hatching from the egg of some animal groups, e.g. insects and nematodes, which may be markedly different from the sexually mature adult and have a totally different way of life. For example, the larvae of some flies are parasites of animals and cause disease whereas the adults are free-living.
• larval adj.
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lar·va (lahrґvə) gen. and pl. larґvae [L. “ghostâ€] an independent, motile, sometimes feeding, developmental stage in the life history of an animal. Cf. imago (def. 1) and pupa.Medical dictionary. 2011.