The effect of winter length on duration of dormancy and survival of specialized herbivorous Rhagoletis fruit flies from high elevation environments with acyclic climatic variability

TADEO, E.; RULL, J.; ALUJA, M.; LASA, R.

BULLETIN OF ENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Año: 2017 p. 1 - 10

0007-4853

Dormancy can be defined as a state of suppressed development allowing insects to cope with adverse conditions and plant phenology. Among specialized herbivorous insects exploiting seasonal resources, diapause frequently evolves as a strategy to adjust to predictable plant seasonal cycles. To cope with acyclic and unpredictable climatic events, it has been found for some insects that a proportion of the population undergoes prolonged dormancy. We compared the response of three species in the Rhagoletis cingulata species group exploiting plants differing in fruiting phenology from environments varying in frequency and timing of acyclic climatic catastrophic events (frost during flowering and fruit set) and varying also in the time of the onset of the rainy season. Small proportions (