Body size is a trait with many potential impacts on fitness. Adult body size can affect the strength of condition-dependent parental effects that determine offspring phenotypes, with potentially important transgenerational consequences. In a preliminary experiment, larval food deprivation (30 min daily access) created Harmonia axyridis Pallas (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) females that weighed <50% of controls reared on ad libitum food (eggs of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller). Although only 1/3 of larvae survived to adulthood in the 30 min treatment, adult pairs produced eggs that were not significantly different in size from those of pairs fed ad libitum as larvae. Less extreme larval food deprivation (4 h daily access) was used to create a cohort of H. axyridis that weighed <60% of controls reared on ad libitum food. Small couples had lower 20-day fecundities and reduced egg fertility relative to large couples. Both egg and pupal periods were shortest when both parents were small, and longest when both parents were large, with reciprocal crosses intermediate. There were no consistent effects of parental body size on larval development time, but the progeny of small females mated to large males pupated later than other treatments. Progeny of large pairs had the heaviest adult weights at emergence, and progeny of small pairs, the lightest, with the progeny of reciprocal crosses intermediate. Small females produced the lightest female offspring, whereas small males sired the lightest male offspring, suggesting stronger responses to epigenetic signals from parents of the same sex. These results indicate that H. axyridis cohorts maturing with abundant food will produce progeny with larger potential body size and fitness, whereas those experiencing food limitation will confer size and fitness limitations to the subsequent generation, with potentially important implications for short-term population dynamics.

中文翻译：

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体型对异色瓢虫发育表型的亲本影响

体型是一个对健康有许多潜在影响的特征。成年体型可以影响决定后代表型的条件依赖性父母效应的强度，并具有潜在的重要跨代后果。在初步实验中，幼虫食物剥夺（每天 30 分钟）造成异色瓢虫Pallas（鞘翅目：Coccinellidae）雌性体重<50％的对照饲养在随意食物（鸡蛋绦虫泽勒）。尽管在 30 分钟的处理中只有 1/3 的幼虫存活到成年，但成虫产卵的大小与喂食的成虫卵没有显着差异随意作为幼虫。不那么极端的幼虫食物剥夺（每天 4 小时）被用来创建一个队列异色瓢虫体重 <60% 的对照组饲养在随意食物。与大夫妻相比，小夫妻的 20 天生育力较低，并且卵子生育能力降低。父母双方都较小时，卵和蛹期最短，父母双方都较大时最长，互交中间。父母体型对幼虫发育时间没有一致的影响，但与其他处理相比，小型雌性与大型雄性交配的后代化蛹较晚。大对的后代在出苗时体重最重，小对的后代最轻，互交的后代在中间。小雌性产生最轻的雌性后代，而小雄性产生最轻的雄性后代，这表明对来自同性父母的表观遗传信号的反应更强。这些结果表明异色瓢虫以丰富食物成熟的群体将产生具有更大潜在体型和健康的后代，而那些经历食物限制的群体将给后代带来体型和健康限制，这对短期种群动态具有潜在的重要影响。