Family Life T e life of a larva is diff erent for diff erent


critters. Some, like ants, grow up with their families. T e adult ants care for the larvae. T e larvae have a job, too. T ey prepare food for the colony, or all the other ants. First, the adult ants gather bits of dead bug.


T ey can’t eat bug bits, though. T eir waists are too skinny to let chunks of solid food pass through. Instead, the adults bring the food to the larvae and lay it on their bellies. T e larvae spit on it. T eir spit turns the food into a juicy slime. T e adult ants feed some bug juice to the larvae. T en they slurp up the rest. T e larvae of weaver ants do more than


prepare food. T ey help build nests. When the ants gently squeeze them, the larvae ooze thin strings of silk. T e ants use the silk threads to sew leaves together. Soon, the ants and the larvae have a new home.


On Their Own Unlike the ants, most larvae must survive on


their own. It’s up to them to find food and stay safe. A ladybug gives her babies a head start. When it’s time for her to lay her eggs, she


searches for just the right plant. T e one she picks is crawling with tiny, spidery insects called aphids. She lays her eggs on a leaf and flies off . She


won’t come back. A few days later, the eggs shake and tiny bugs hatch. T ese baby bugs don’t look like ladybugs at


all. T ey are mostly black with orange spots. Unlike a ladybug, they don’t have a shiny shell or wings. Instead, spines and bristles poke out of their backs. T ey look like mini alligators. T ese larvae act as hungry as gators, too.


Luckily, they don’t have to look far for food. T ey gobble up juicy aphids. One ladybug larva can eat up to 60 aphids a day.


This ladybug larva snacks on aphids.


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