What are Larvae?
A larva is a juvenile form of an animal that differs substantially in its body morphology and internal organs than the adult organism. For instance, a caterpillar is the larval form of a butterfly. In contrast, juvenile humans are pretty much the same as adult humans, only smaller. A larval stage is common among insects, fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and certain mollusks, echinoderms, annelids, and others. Some species actually evolve into an exclusively larval form and remain there. The process of turning from a larvae into an adult is called metamorphosis. The larval stage is a stepping stone to adulthood for these animals. There are various evolutionary benefits to having a larval stage: generally, the stage is better optimized for its small size and appetite. This is especially true for animal species that tend to have a “quantity over quality” evolutionary strategy — in some cases, it would be a waste to produce thousands of adults directly, as many of them would die anyway, and
Larvae are one of the four forms in a mosquito’s development. Adult mosquitoes lay eggs, which hatch into larvae; larvae then become pupae, from which the adult mosquitoes emerge. Adult mosquitoes lay their eggs on surfaces of standing water and the larvae live and develop into pupae in the water. Q: In what form are larvicides used? A: Larvicides can be applied to standing water as liquid, a spray, granules or briquets. A briquet is a block that is placed in the water where mosquitoes breed. The briquet releases concentrated larvicide slowly over weeks to months. Q: Where are larvicides used to kill mosquitoes? A: The New York City Department of Health will apply larvicides to water in which mosquitoes can breed. It will primarily use the briquet and granule forms of larvicides in catch basins (storm drains) in which standing water has developed. The products will be place into the storm drains by hand. For other types of standing water, granules or liquid products may be applied eith
