How do you use the word "larva" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "larva" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "larva": The life cycle of an amphibian consists of three stages: egg, larva and adult. Every butterfly has been a larva, but not all larvae will become butterflies.

Larva Meaning

/ˈlɑː.və/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounAn early stage of growth for some insects and amphibians, in which after hatching from their egg, insects are wingless and resemble a caterpillar or grub, and amphibians lack limbs and resemble fish.

nounAn animal in the aforementioned stage.

Sentence Examples

The life cycle of an amphibian consists of three stages: egg, larva and adult.

Every butterfly has been a larva, but not all larvae will become butterflies.

The larva of the small emperor moth feeds on heather plants.

CEFR Practice Quiz

A caterpillar is the ____ stage of a butterfly before it becomes a pupa.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The researcher studied the ____ of the insect to understand more about its complex development process.

Word Origin & History

From Latin larva (“disembodied spirit, ghost, goblin”).

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The habits of the second nymphal stage are likewise similar to those of the larva stage." — 1923, Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, page 6:

"Several possible explanations are advanced for a large decrease in numbers between the egg and larva stage, namely, drift of larvae from the sampling station, escape through the meshes of the net, sinking below the surface layers, and loss from mortality. A seasonally erratic egg to larva ratio is pointed out." — 1954, Contribution - Hawaii Marine Laboratory, page 186:

"The young larva bores into the tissue of a tobacco leaf, usually near the place where it has emerged from the egg, in cases where the egg was laid on a leaf, and mines into the leaf." — 1920, Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, page 84:

"What does a mountain newt larva eat?" — 2020, Anne Sagner, Ichthy, diary of a newt larva, page 4:

"In water of 5-6° C, herring hatch in about 22 days, at 11-12° C in 8–10 days. The newly hatched larva is about 6–8 mm long and at first depends on the food reserves of the yolk-sac." — 1968, R. V. Tait, F. A. Dipper, Elements of Marine Ecology, page 344:

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