Egg Size Variation in Aedes aegypti: Relationship to Body Size and Other Variables

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Abstract
Egg size variation among female mosquitoes (A. aegypti) is documented. Females hatching from large eggs grow faster, attain a larger adult size, take larger blood meals, and lay more and larger eggs than females hatching from small eggs. This cycle is self-perpetuating; offspring of large females have a high probability of attaining a large size. Three factors oppose selection for large egg size by this apparently deterministic cycle: Smaller and slower-growing females may also produce large eggs under some circumstances; genetic differences among sibships are more important than differences in egg size; there is no effect of body size on the reproductive success of males, so males pass on genetic material which has not been size-selected. It does not appear that there is an optimal egg size within the limits of observed egg sizes.