RESTRICTED MALE WINTER MOTH (OPEROPHTERA-BRUMATA L) DISPERSAL AMONG HOST TREES

Local adaptation of insect herbivores to individual variation of host plant characteristics (i.e. deme formation) may be counteracted by gen e flow among those hosts. The winter moth lives on oak trees which bud burst dates vary considerably among individuals. Winter moth egg hatch shows a synchronization with individual oak budburst, which is partia lly promoted by the female's brachyptery and thus low dispersal. Males are, however, winged and capable of flying to other trees. The mark-r elocation experiments reported in this paper show that males also exhi bit very limited dispersal, possibly increasing egg hatch synchronizat ion and expected fitness. The potential importance of the wings for ma les is discussed.