PHEROMONAL EMISSION DURING THE MATING-BEHAVIOR OF EURYCOTIS-FLORIDANA(WALKER) (DICTYOPTERA, BLATTIDAE)

The sexual behavior of males and females of Eurycotis floridana was in vestigated and the various associated behavioral sequences are describ ed. Olfactometer data proved that the male produces a volatile sex phe romone attractive at a distance to conspecific females. The male initi ates courtship behavior by exposing the glandular areas on the anterio r parts of abdominal tergites 2, 7, and 8. This male calling behavior was observed throughout the day. The males can mate when 8 days old, w hereas virgin females are sexually receptive 18 days after becoming ad ults. Once attracted near the male, the female opens her genital atriu m and climbs on the back of the male, where she feeds on the glandular secretions that oozed around a little tuft of setae on the first terg ite. These setae are mechanoreceptors and they are stimulated when lic ked by the females, which informs the male that she is in a proper pos ition for copulation.