Larva,

Larva, the young form of an animal after leaving the egg, but before acquiring adult characteristics. Tadpoles of Frogs (q.v.), caterpillars of Insects (q.v.), nauplii and zoeæ of Crustaceans (q.v.), the quaint young of Echinoderms (q.v.), &c. are good illustrations. There may be no larval stage, when the embryo grows continuously into the adult form; on the other hand, the larval life may be longer than that of the adult. Many larval characters are recapitulations of ancestral forms; others are special modifications adaptive to larval life. See the Rev. J. Seymour's Larva Collecting and Breeding (1890).