A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
Larva of the Papilio xuthus butterfly
Eurosta solidaginis Goldenrod Gall Fly larva
The larvae of the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) are among the largest of any species of insect
Campodeiform larva of Micromus sp.
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, jellyfish, fish, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition source or behavior. Animals can be divided into species that undergo complete metamorphosis ("holometaboly"), incomplete metamorphosis ("hemimetaboly"), or no metamorphosis ("ametaboly").
A dragonfly in its final moult, undergoing metamorphosis, it begins transforming from its nymph form to an adult
Incomplete metamorphosis in the grasshopper with different instar nymphs. The largest specimen is adult.
larva
pupa