Developmental instability in morphological characters can occur during individual development due to various environmental stresses.Fluctuating asymmetry (FA)is often used as a measurement of developmental instability.but within-environment variation(cve)is also considered an indicator of developmental instability.Cabbage aphid nated cabbage and radish plants.Developmental instability indicators were measured and their relations with fitness were explored.Results revealed that cabbage aphids exposed to Cd and Zn displayed considerable developmental instability,particularly fluctuating asymmetry.Differences in developmental instability between the two metals were also detected,as well as differences between the two developmental instability measurements.For almost all measured traits.FA was greater on Cd-and Zn-contaminated compared to non-contaminated host plants.In contrast.CV of some traits was greater on non-contami-nated host plants,yet for Otller traits CV Was greater on contaminated host plants.There were also non-significant inverse relationships between FA and fitness of cabbage aphid populations.Due to weak correlations between FA and different pattes of two developmental instability measurements,this study does not support the hypothesis that developmental instability is a useful bioindicator of environmental quality.