Planidium
form of insect larva
A planidium is a specialized form of insect larva seen in the first-instar of a few families of insects that have parasitoidal ways of life. They are usually flattened, highly sclerotized (hardened), and quite mobile. The function of the planidial stage is to find a host on which the later larval instars may feed, generally until the insect pupates.
Etymology
The term "planidium" is derived from the Greek language πλανής (planis) meaning "wanderer", the same origin of the word planet. The term planula was similarly derived in reference to the wandering larvae of certain Cnidaria. Accordingly, "planidium" is the general term for such an adaptation, and it is not limited to any particular species or morphology. Planidia of different species differ variously from each other in form.
The first-instar larva in the beetle family Meloidae has three claws on each foot, and is therefore called a triungulin (plural triungula). The term is derived from the Latin tri meaning "three", and ungula meaning "a claw". An obsolescent variant triungulus (plural triunguli) may still be encountered.
“Planidium” enters the record as form of insect larva. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Planidium, form and insect can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Planidium” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Planidium, form and insect provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7201285. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Planidium” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.