Larva found in some parasitic Hymenoptera and Diptera; limbs are rudimentary or absent; internal organs are incompletely differentiated; requires highly nutritive and sheltered environment for further development. protopod,

, a larva with undifferentiated internal and external organs, e.g., first instar larva of some endoparasitic Hymenoptera (T-B, after Folsom and Wardle; Chapman).