Lack of evolutionary potential of developmental instability of front tibialength in the Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella)

The evolutionary potential of developmental instability (DI, defined as an individual's inability to buffer its development against random perturbatio ns) as estimated by individual asymmetry (so-called fluctuating asymmetry, small random deviations from perfect symmetry), remains a controversial sub ject of research. Only if DI is heritable and if it is related with fitness , can evolution be expected to occur. In this study we find no evidence for evolutionary potential of DI of the front tibia in the Indian meal moth. T he heritabilities of fluctuating asymmetry and DI were negative. Individual asymmetry was nor related to two fitness components: survival probability and body length. In contrast, both survival probability and body length wer e heritable. Body length increased with food quality but was not affected b y density, whereas survival probability increased with food quality and dec reased with density. Thus, effects of environmental stress and genetic back ground differed for fluctuating asymmetry on one hand and survival probabil ity and body length on the other hand.