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[Vol. 92 
important role in the release of the male’s backing movements and 
copulatory thrusts (Barth 1964, 1968a; Wendelken 1976; Simon and 
Barth 1977a). 
In cockroaches, the term “homosexual behavior” has been used in 
reference to the behavior of males directing male courtship patterns 
toward other males (Barth 1964). “Pseudofemale behavior” has 
been used to designate the appearance in the male of motor patterns 
which are characteristic of female sexual behavior — i.e., the 
“mounting and feeding” response. Pseudofemale mounting and 
feeding release backing and copulatory thrusts by the displaying 
male. However, genital connection is only rarely achieved and in 
such cases lasts only a few seconds (Barth 1964). Homosexual and 
pseudofemale behavior are of widespread occurrence in cock- 
roaches. Homosexual behavior may be at least partially explicable 
in terms of female sex pheromone becoming attached to the cuticle 
of males exposed to females. The female sex pheromone would tend 
to release courtship behavior in males coming into antennal contact 
with these pheromone-tinged males. Thus, to some extent, homo- 
sexual behavior may be an artifact of the courtship situation (Roth 
and Willis 1952, Simon and Barth 1977b). 
No satisfactory explanation has been advanced to account for the 
perplexing prevalence of pseudofemale behavior in cockroaches. 
The elementary form of male mounting and feeding behavior, as 
described above, has been reported for the following species: Peri- 
planeta americana (L.) (Roth and Willis 1952, Barth 1970, Simon 
and Barth 1977a); Periplaneta brunnea Burmeister and Periplaneta 
fuliginosa (Serville) (Barth 1970, Simon and Barth 1977a); Peri- 
planeta japonica and Periplaneta australasiae (F.) (Simon and 
Barth 1977a); Blatta orientalis L. (Roth and Willis 1952, Barth 
1970, Simon and Barth 1977a); Supella longipalpa (F.) (Roth 1952); 
Latiblattella angustifrons Hebard (Willis 1970); Eurycotis floridana 
(Walker) (Barth 1968b); Blattella germanica (L.) (Roth and Willis 
1952); Parcoblatta fulvescens (Saussure and Zehntner) (Wendelken 
and Barth 1971); Byrsotria fumigata (Guerin) (Barth 1964); Leuco- 
phaea maderae (F.) and Nauphoeta cinerea (Olivier) (Roth and 
Barth 1967). This list is not necessarily all inclusive but it does 
indicate the widespread occurrence of the elementary form of 
pseudofemale behavior in cockroaches. In none of these instances 
was pseudofemale behavior described as being a component of the 
male repertoire of aggressive behavior. 
