Hi John, what type of larvae are you after collecting?

We're collecting mosquito larvae.

I would have students get an eyelash. I would glue it to a toothpick, or other small wooden stick using a non-water soluble glue. I would poke the mosquito larva with the eyelash. If it moves it is not dead. Be aware that sometimes insects pretend to be dead, and resurrections will be a problem. You might separate the dead ones and recheck them several times every few minutes to make sure they are dead. With a good microscope and good backlighting you might be able to see heart/gut movements that would also be a sign of life. It will just take a bit of time to do this. The best approach may be species dependent.

Here are some web sites you could explore:

http://www.wrbu.org/techniques.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC111502/

Dear John,

You can use dropper and pipette to determine the mortality of larvae and be careful of molting which results of larvae growth or development and look like larvae.

For more detail you can read the Mosquito Ecology: Field Sampling Methods

By John B. Silver, I attached the online version I found it very useful.

Yours

https://books.google.com/books?id=VM8MA4E_VT8C&lpg=PA157&ots=KC20yIPMr4&dq=who%20dips%20spoon%20mosquitoes%20larvae%20collection&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q=who%20dips%20spoon%20mosquitoes%20larvae%20collection&f=false