Abstract: Maternal effects in insects have been the subject of considerable interest among evolutionary ecologists for a long time. In recent years, intensive research, especially with the introduction of quantitative genetics, has allowed considerable progress in this field. In this review, we survey the growing literature on maternal effects with emphasis on the following aspects. 1. Dependence of certain characters, such as diapause, polymorphisms, polyphenisms and offspring quality on maternal effects. 2. Inducement of maternal effects by environmental factors, particularly photoperiod and temperature. 3. Sensitive stages in the maternal generation to the inducing factors, with adults being the most sensitive in many species. 4. Developmental stages in offspring controlled by maternal effects, the egg stage in most cases. 5. The possible biochemical mechanisms involved in maternal control of offspring development. 6. Genetic variation of maternal effects within and among populations. We also briefly discuss the adaptive significance of maternal effects and their relation to evolution of insect life history.

Key words: Maternal effect, life history, adaptive significances