The short-term and long-term effects of parental age in the bean weevil (Acanthoscelides obtectus)

Abstract

We examined the influence of parental age on life history traits of their offspring in the lines of bean weevil that have evolved different rates of senescence. Measurements included preadult traits ( egg size, embryonic developmental time, total preadult developmental time, preadult viability) and adult traits ( body weight, total realized fecundity of females,first day of egg laying, early fecundity, late fecundity and longevity). The negative parental age effects were observed for all traits except for the early and total realized fecundity. We did not detect statistically significant line x parental age interactions for either preadult- or adult-survival, so offspring survival did not change with parental age after selection for early vs. late reproduction. It seems that selection acting on the quality of offspring produced by parents of different ages has not been responsible for the evolution of senescence in bean weevil.