Abstract: To understand the ecological significance of wing dimorphism in a cricket species, Velarifictorus asperses (Walker), the development of flight muscles and ovary, fecundity and longevity in long-winged (LW) and short-winged (SW) female adults of this cricket bred in the laboratory were compared. On the day of emergence, LW females had better-developed flight muscles than SW females, and the weight of their flight muscles was 38.68±9.15 mg and 17.53±4.44 mg, respectively. No significant difference was observed in ovary mass between LW and SW females (P>0.05), and the weight of them was 4.69±1.04 mg and 4.88±0.97 mg, respectively. Within 8 days after emergence, the weight of the LW females’ flight muscles increased 48.9%, while the weight of the SW females’ ovaries increased up to 93.5±11.7 mg, which was about 4.5 times higher than that of the LW females. The SW females were observed to reproduce earlier and had higher total number of eggs laid than the LW females, but the significant difference in number of eggs laid was only found in early adulthood (P<0.05). No significant difference was observed in longevity between the two wing forms (P>0.05). In addition, some LW females had their flight muscles histolyzed from day 12 after emergence, and the ovaries developed faster than the LW females with fully-developed flight muscles. These results suggest that a physiological trade-off between the development of flight muscles and reproductive organs existed in female V. asperses, which may cause a differentiation of life history strategy among LW and SW females, that is to say, the LW females are able to fly and the SW females benefit more in reproduction, and the histolysis of flight muscles might be a physiological signal for LW females to switch from fly to reproductive development.

Key words: Velarifictorus asperses, wing dimorphism, ecological significance, flight muscles, fecundity, longevity