What does "L" stand for in like L1, L2, L3, L4, and so on?
The L in an instar
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PhilinYuma
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"larval" In much scientific literature, the word "instar" is used instead, so L1 = first instar.
Why larval. A baby mantis is a nymph.
jameslongo
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It's still the larval form of a mantid. 'Nymph' is a synonym. Just a reminder to use the search engine. We had this question not long ago. No worries
PhilinYuma
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As James says. Insects are sometimes classified as being "holometaboulous" or "hemimetatobolous." The larval stage of an insect, often its longest, is that between egg and sexually mature adult (imago) or pupa. Holometabolous insects are said to undergo "complete" metamorphosis, with a larval form, caterpillar, grub, maggot, whatever, that is structurally quite different from the adult. Such larvae undergo the structural changes that identify them as adults as pupae. Holometabolous insects like mantids, grasshoppers (orthopterans), cockroaches and many others, are less differentiated (the PC term for "more primitive"), and the larval stage, often, as you say, called the nymphal stage, resembles the imago much more closely, though nymphs do not posess wings or mature sexual organs.and do not need to go through a quiescent pupal stage. So all nymphs can be called larvae, but not all larvae can be called nymphs. Certainly, you could refer to a first instar nymph as N1, but no one will know what you mean!
