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Larvesta "flying" using the fire that spits out from its horns
Larvesta is a fuzzy, moth larva-like Pokémon. It has blue eyes in a shadowed face. Its white mane of fuzz encompasses its head and the upper half of its body, while its lower half is brown. It has three pairs of small black legs. There are five orange, slightly whorled horns on the sides of its head, which it can use to spit fire as a defensive tactic to deter predators. It has been seen using fire it spits from these horns to fly. It lives at the feet of volcanoes.
Larvesta and its evolution are also the only Pokémon with a double weakness to the Rock type that are not Flying types.
This makes them the Pokémon vulnerable to the most damage from entry hazards, able to be affected by both Stealth Rock (from which they take maximum damage) and Spikes.
Larvesta and its evolution are the only Pokémon that are neither Legendary nor Mythical that learn a move upon reaching level 100.
Origin
Larvesta is based on a moth and the famed Japanese monument, the Tower of the Sun. Larvesta appears to be based on an Atlas moth larva. The way its red growths are shaped and positioned on its circular body may be a reference to the sun, or to the Daimonji. It may also be based on a torch.
Name origin
Larvesta is a combination of larva and Vesta (Roman goddess of the hearth and home, symbolised and represented by an eternally-burning fire located in her temple). It may also involve lava.
Merlarva may be a combination of めらめら meramera (onomatopoeia for flaring) and larva.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.