Most lepidopteran larvaelarva:
the stages between the egg and pupa of those insects having complete metamorphosis
, including all of the pest species treated here, are characterized by a combination of the following characters (from Stehr 1987): a distinct head; chewing mouthparts; one pair of antennae; six pair of stemmatastemma:
a simple eye of holometabolous larvae
; adfrontal areasadfrontal areas:
an oblique sclerite on each side of the frons, usually extending from the base of the antennae to the epicranial suture where they meet, or to the epicranial notch if they do not meet
; a labial spinneretspinneret:
a structure from which silk is spun, usually located on the labium of larvae
; three pairs of thoracic legs; ten abdominal segments; four pairs of abdominal prolegsabdominal prolegs:
all prolegs on any abdominal segment except the last, which are Anal prolegs
with crochetscrochets:
sclerotized, hooklike structures, usually arranged in rows or circles on the prolegs of Lepidoptera larvae
on segments A3-6 (reduced in some species); one pair of anal prolegsanal prolegs:
prolegs on the last abdominal segment (A10)
with crochetscrochets:
sclerotized, hooklike structures, usually arranged in rows or circles on the prolegs of Lepidoptera larvae
on segment A10; and spiracles on the prothoraxprothorax:
the first thoracic segment
and abdominal segments A1-8.
Setaeseta:
a hairlike projection of the body wall that is articulated in a socket; compare to spine
are named according to Stehr (1987) but not all authors use the same setal homologies and the application of these names can vary slightly between families. Two special structures used in keys are worth mentioning. The fronsfrons:
medial sclerite on face of head delimited above by epicranial arms and below by frontoclypeal suture; sometimes termed frontal area (or front)
and clypeusclypeus:
the sclerite between the frons and the labrum
are often called the "front." Because of their special significance in identification, the L setaeseta:
a hairlike projection of the body wall that is articulated in a socket; compare to spine
on the prothoraxprothorax:
the first thoracic segment
are called the prespiracular group. Their pinaculumpinaculum:
a small, flat, or slightly elevated chitinized area bearing a seta or setae
, if present, is called the prespiracular pinaculumpinaculum:
a small, flat, or slightly elevated chitinized area bearing a seta or setae
.
Click on the tabs at the top of this page to view detailed labeled diagrams for the head, hypopharyngeal complexhypopharyngeal complex:
a structure consisting of the Hypopharynx, Labial palpi, and Spinneret
, mandibles, thorax, abdomen, and crochetscrochets:
sclerotized, hooklike structures, usually arranged in rows or circles on the prolegs of Lepidoptera larvae
. Methods for preserving and studying Lepidoptera larvaelarva:
the stages between the egg and pupa of those insects having complete metamorphosis
are listed on the About page under "Materials and Methods." For more information on Lepidoptera larval morphology and study methods, consult Stehr (1987) or Peterson (1948).
