larvae

Noun

larva (plural larvae or larvas or (archaic) larvæ)

1. An early stage of growth for insects and some amphibians, in which after hatching from their egg, insects are wingless and resemble a caterpillar or grub, and amphibians lack limbs and resemble fish.
   • 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
2. An animal in the aforementioned stage.
   • 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
3. A form of a recently born or hatched animal that is quite different from its adult stage.
   • 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
4. (figuratively) A preliminary stage of someone or something, before it has fully matured, especially a time of growth rather than one of performance.
   • In the fourteenth we find, but still in Latin, a quasi-historical drama, in the larva stage of monologue recitation, founded on a subject from the national annals—that of Ezzelino, tyrant-duke of Padua.1883, The Edinburgh Review - Volume 158, page 64