Wing dimorphism and the migratory syndrome: Correlated traits for migratory tendency in wing dimorphic insects

The hypothesis that the morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits comprising the migratory syndrome in insects are genetically correlated through pleiotropic effects of genes controlling the titre of a common hormonal determinant is explored. Evidence that juvenile hormone (JH) influences the component traits of the migratory syndrome is presented, and thus JH is assumed to be the underlying, common determinant. However, readers are cautioned that this does not imply that JH is solely responsible for these traits, nor is this necessary for the arguments presented. For wing dimorphic taxa, the “correlated traits hypothesis” predicts covariance within wing morphs between JH titre and the proportion winged. Four simple genetic models for wing-morph determination are considered: single-locus with short-winged (SW) dominant; single-locus with long-winged (LW) dominant; polygenic, fixed threshold, shifting distribution; and polygenic, shifting threshold, fixed distribution. In each case, wing morphology is assumed to be a threshold trait with the liability being JH titre at some critical stage of development. All models predict covariation between %LW and the mean JH titre of at least one of the wing morphs, but the form and direction of the relationship depends critically on the genetic model used. The results suggest that we should expect the traits associated with the migratory syndrome, and hence the trade-offs associated with the evolution of wing dimorphism, to be correlated with proportion winged and, in this sense, to be frequency-dependent.