Life-history plasticity is widespread among organisms. However, an important question is whether this plasticity is adaptive, enhancing the organism’s fitness. Most models for plasticity in life-history timing predict that once they have reached the minimal nutritional threshold animals under poor conditions will accelerate timing to development or reproduction. Adaptive delays in reproductive timing are not common, especially in short-lived species. Examples of adaptive reproductive delays exist in mammalian populations experiencing strong interspecific (e.g. predation) and intraspecific (e.g. infanticide) competition. But are there other environmental factors that may trigger an adaptive delay in reproductive timing? We show that the short-lived flesh fly Sarcophaga crassipalpis will delay reproductive timing under nutrient poor conditions, even though it has already met the minimal nutritional threshold for reproduction. We test if this delay strategy is consistent with an adaptive response allowing the scavenger time to locate more resources by providing additional protein pulses (early, mid and late) throughout the reproductive delay period. Flies receiving additional protein produced more eggs and larger eggs, demonstrating a benefit of the delay. In addition, by tracking the allocation of carbon from the pulses using stable isotopes, we show that flies receiving earlier pulses incorporated more carbon into eggs and somatic tissue than those provided a later pulse. These results indicate that the reproductive delay in S. crassipalpis is consistent with adaptive post-threshold plasticity, a nutritionally-linked reproductive strategy that has not been previously reported in an invertebrate species.

1. The flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis, is anautogenous and largely relies on adult-acquired income resources for reproduction, but allocates some larvally derived capital into the first clutch. Therefore, the timing of adult resource acquisition may be important for both reproductive timing and magnitude of capital vs. income resources allocated to reproduction. Specifically, we predict that flesh flies that wait longer to acquire adult income resources will allocate greater quantities of larvally derived capital to the first clutch.2. To test how reproductive allocation in flesh flies responds to the timing of adult protein availability, we provided pulses of protein only on day 3, 6, 9, or 12 after eclosion, a series of times equivalent to the onset of oogensis and early, middle and late oogenic development in individuals fed ad libitum. Protein pulses contained isotopically distinct carbon ( 13 C), allowing us to distinguish between larval capital and adult-income resources allocated towards reproduction.3. Neither the timing of oocyte development nor reproductive allotment (egg number by egg size) was altered by the timing of protein availability.4. There was no effect of adult protein acquisition timing on the quantity of larvally derived somatic capital vs. adult-acquired income carbon allocated to reproduction. While flesh flies have remarkable pre-feeding plasticity in reproductive timing, they appear to have little post-feeding plasticity in allocation of stored reserves towards reproduction.