# Insects (Class Insecta) annotation question **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [June 5, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822 "2026-06-05T16:41:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![warrenlayberry](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/warrenlayberry/32/31292_2.png) [@warrenlayberry](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/warrenlayberry)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/1 "2026-06-05T16:41:46Z")
I’m curious. I’ve recently joined a project called [Bird Food](https://www.inaturalist.ca/projects/bird-food) and was posting a detail from an observation as likely being some sort of insect larva (hard to say more than that). [https://www.inaturalist.ca/observations/368675085](https://www.inaturalist.ca/observations/368675085) When I went to annotate the life stage (expecting to find **larva** ), I found only **adult** , **egg** , and **juvenile** (?) as options. Shouldn’t larva be the correct designation rather than juvenile? Cheers, Warren ---
**Author:** ![ItsMeLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@ItsMeLucy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ItsMeLucy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/2 "2026-06-05T17:09:46Z")
I think possibly this was chosen for simplicity, because juvenile covers larvae and instars and a host of descriptors between egg and adult. ---
**Author:** ![Arnovdvyver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e95f7d/32.png) [@Arnovdvyver](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/Arnovdvyver)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/3 "2026-06-05T17:09:55Z")
Some insects possess direct development with no larval stage, so the annotation makes sense. If you managed to narrow-down the ID, the larval stage annotation should appear. ---
**Author:** ![ItsMeLucy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@ItsMeLucy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/ItsMeLucy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/4 "2026-06-05T18:08:18Z")
> [@Arnovdvyver](#): > > If you managed to narrow-down the ID, the larval stage annotation should appear. Yes, where appropriate, depending on how a particular insect identification progressed. In other cases you could see [nymph](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/169085685), etc. Juvenile is just the catchall at Insecta, I was thinking. Welcome to the forum @Arnovdvyver :) ---
**Author:** ![phma](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/phma/32/54376_2.png) [@phma](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/phma)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/5 "2026-06-05T18:40:34Z")
You have to identify it to order, as Holometabola is not an available taxon. If it’s a bug, it can be an egg, nymph, or adult. If it’s a beetle, it can be an egg, larva, pupa, or adult. If you know it’s a larva, guess whether it’s a grub, maggot, schadon, or caterpillar, and note that you’re guessing an order so that you can annotate as larva. Be ready to change the order in case someone says it’s in a different order; sawfly schadons, in particular, are hard to tell from caterpillars with only a dorsal view. ---
**Author:** ![bazwal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/bazwal/32/109_2.png) [@bazwal](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/bazwal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 10:26pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/6 "2026-06-05T22:26:53Z")
> [@phma](#): > > grub, maggot, schadon, or caterpillar Hmm - _schadon_? It’s curious that some allegedly “common” words are far more obscure than the technical terms they relate to. After consulting the OED, I discovered that _schadon_ derives from the ancient greek word [σχαδών](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%83%CF%87%CE%B1%CE%B4%CF%8E%CE%BD) - the earliest reference for which comes from Aristotle, no less (although its original semantics are unknown). A better english transliteration is _skaddon_, since the ancient greek chi was pronounced like the _ch_ in loch. The earliest more modern usage of _schadon_ / _skaddon_ is from [The Feminine Monarchy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Butler_(beekeeper)#The_Feminine_Monarchie) (Charles Butler, 1609), which is one of the first english-language books about bee-keeping. This pre-dates the technical definition of _larva_ given by Linnaeus more than a century later. Presumably, if _larva_ had been available to earlier authors, _skaddon_ might never have gained any currency. As it is, the current [wiktionary entry](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skaddon) considers _skaddon_ to be an obsolete dialect word, which doesn’t seem unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![phma](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/phma/32/54376_2.png) [@phma](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/phma)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/7 "2026-06-06T22:35:45Z")
Wiktionary also has “shadden” in a quote. This form looks like it was borrowed into Old English or Proto-West-Germanic and followed the sound changes, like how we have “skirt” (from Norse) and “shirt” (native). ---
**Author:** ![paul\_dennehy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/paul_dennehy/32/1319_2.png) [@paul\_dennehy](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/paul_dennehy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/8 "2026-06-07T13:46:45Z")
If I enjoy seeing others confuse Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera larvae, does that mean I’m experiencing schadonfreude? ---
**Author:** ![DianaStuder](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/dianastuder/32/43358_2.png) [@DianaStuder](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/DianaStuder)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 2:34pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/9 "2026-06-07T14:34:46Z")
Bravo !! Fascinated by these deviations into ‘where does THAT word come from ?’ ---
**Author:** ![nyenyedzi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/nyenyedzi/32/67600_2.png) [@nyenyedzi](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/nyenyedzi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/10 "2026-06-07T18:27:52Z")
Nice 😂 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/2X/7/7831452cf7f0d653ff1ffd34176334b7ef1b6a17.png) [@system](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2026, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/insects-class-insecta-annotation-question/79822/11 "2026-08-06T18:28:21Z")
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