Inbreeding Depression and Laboratory Adaptation in Heliothis virescens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Tobacco budworms, Heliothis virescens (F.), suffered severely from inbreeding depression after one generation of brother-sister mating. Larval viability was particularly affected. Inadvertent selection for laboratory adaptation appeared to have a greater impact on mating behavior of females than of males. Maintenance of large colony sizes and outcrossing laboratory females to field-collected males may be practical methods of avoiding significant inbreeding depression in laboratory colonies.