Two developmental switch points for the wing polymorphisms in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

BACKGROUND: In many insect taxa, wing polymorphism is known to be a consequence of tradeoffs between flight and other life-history traits. The pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum exhibits various morphs with or without wings associated with their complex life cycle including wing polyphenism in viviparous females, genetic wing polymorphism in males, and a monomorphic wingless phenotype in oviparous females and fundatrices. While wing differentiation has been investigated in some detail in viviparous females and males, these processes have not yet been elucidated in monomorphic morphs. The ontological development of the flight apparatus, including wings and flight muscles, was therefore carefully examined in oviparous females and fundatrices and compared with other morphs. RESULTS: The extensive histological examinations showed that flight-apparatus primordia were not at all produced throughout their postembryonic development in oviparous females and fundatrices, suggesting that during the embryonic stages the primordia are degenerated or not developed. In contrast, in viviparous females and males, the differentiation points to winged or wingless morphs occurred at the early postembryonic instars (first or second instar). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the above observations together with previous studies, we propose that there are two developmental switch points (embryonic and postembryonic) for the flight-apparatus development in A. pisum. Since there are multiple developmental trajectories for four wingless phenotypes (wingless viviparous females, oviparous females, fandatrices, wingless males), it is suggested that the developmental pathways leading to various morphs were evolutionarily acquired independently under selective pressures specific to each morph. Especially in viviparous females, the delay of determination is thought to contribute to the condition-dependent expressions of alternative phenotypes, that is, phenotypic plasticity.