Extrachromosomal linear copia elements were isolated and cloned from cultured Drosophila melanogaster cells. Four full length copia recombinants were characterised. Each contains a full sized copy of copia bounded by its direct repeats. The sequences of the ends of the copia inserts were determined. All of the termini are identical to those of genomic copias except for a single base deletion from one end of one clone. These results suggest that the priming for initiation of copia reverse transcription differs from normal retroviral models. Southern blot analysis of uncloned full length copia circles shows that approximately 50% correspond to the predicted circularisation product of such linears. We propose that this class of circles and the linear DNAs described here are precursors to integrated genomic copia elements.