Phenotypic selection by parasitoids on the timing of life history in a leafmining moth

Direct measurements of phenotypic selection by parasitoids on quantitative traits in herbivorous insects have been rare. I analysed episodes of phenotypic selection on the timing of life‐history events in a multivoltine leafmining moth, Phyllonorycter mespilella, and assessed the importance of hymenopterous parasitoids as selective influences. Phyllonorycter mespilella has two consecutive stages of larval development, the sap‐feeding (SF) and tissue‐feeding (TF) stages. Adult parasitoids host feed predominantly on SF larvae, and oviposit predominantly on TF larvae. Oviposition attack on TF larvae caused positive directional selection on the date of transition to the the TF stage (TF date) in the third generation of P. mespilella in one population in 1991. Overwinter mortality caused negative directional selection on TF date in the third generation in a second population in 1993. No directional or variance selection on TF date was detected in the second population in the second generation of 1993. Parasitoid females accepted SF larvae for oviposition more often in the fall generation than in summer generations in both populations. The relative frequencies of SF and TF larvae may alter the pattern of oviposition attack by parasitoids, and thus the form of phenotypic selection on TF date.