'larvae-attractive' originates from modern English, specifically the compound of 'larvae' (plural of 'larva') and 'attractive', where 'larvae' referred to immature insect forms and 'attractive' meant 'having the quality of attracting'.

'larvae-attractive' developed analogously from compounds like 'mosquito-attractive' or 'odor-attractive' formed in modern English by combining a target noun with 'attractive' to form an adjective describing what is attracted.

Initially, the components meant 'immature insect forms' and 'having the quality of attracting'; over time the compound has been used directly to mean 'tending to attract larvae' with the same literal sense.