No abstract

Inbreeding depression has been reported in various groups of organisms, including insects. Estimates of inbreeding consequences were obtained by comparing 12 life‐history and morphological traits among nine inbred families (F = 0.25) and 16 outbred families (F = 0) of the Neotropical butterfly Heliconius erato phyllis. A Student's t‐test showed statistically significant differences for pupal weight and right forewing area, both in males and in females, between inbred and outbred families. Survival during development, from egg hatching to adulthood, also differed significantly between inbred and outbred families. The average number of haploid lethal equivalents was 0.17 for pupal weight, 0.15 for forewing area and 0.71 for survival from hatching to adulthood. The results of this study confirm that the consequences of inbreeding are more deleterious to life history traits than to morphological ones.