The Asian corn borer Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée) is a major pest of corn Zea mays (L.). It is widely distributed in China, encountering great diversity in climatic conditions among localities along the country's north-south axis and exhibiting considerable diversity in life history among different geographic populations. Populations show clear differences in voltinism, critical day-lengths, postdiapause emergence times and cold tolerance. However, little is known about geographic variations in the species' fecundity. In this study, specimens of O. furnacalis were collected from five different latitudes: Ledong, Hainan (LD, 18.8°N, 109.2°E); Nanchang, Jiangxi (NC, 28.8°N, 115.9°E); Taian, Shandong (TA, 36.2°N, 117.1°E); Langfang, Hebei (LF, 39.5°N, 116.7°E) and Haerbin, Heilongjiang (HEB, 44.9°N, 127.2°E). They were reared on an artificial diet under L16:D8 at 28 ℃ for three consecutive generations, and the relationships between longevity, pre-oviposition period, oviposition period, fecundity and collection latitude were analyzed. Significant differences among populations were found in longevity, pre-oviposition and oviposition period, and egg production. Longevity was positively correlated with latitude (10.20d, 13.68d, 13.90d, 13.95d and 16.40d for females; 8.35d, 12.50d, 13.62d, 13.71d and 14.30d for males). The pre-oviposition period of the TA population was significantly shorter (2.00d) than that of other populations (LD: 2.75d, NC: 3.23d, LF: 3.33d, HEB: 3.25d). Oviposition period length tended to increase with latitude (7.45d, 10.45d, 11.90d, 10.62d and 13.15d) and was significantly shorter in the LD population. Mean egg production per female was also positively correlated with latitude and was significantly lower in the LD population (351.55 eggs) than in the other populations (NC: 500.09 eggs, TA: 522.90 eggs, LF: 546.76 eggs, HEB: 577.95 eggs). The results show the presence of geographic variation in the reproductive tactics of O. furnacalis and reveal significantly higher fecundity in the northern than in the southern populations, suggesting a possible reason for the generally higher losses of corn to Asian corn borer damage in northern than in southern China.