SEXUAL BEHAVIOR OF MURGANTIA HISTRIONICA 
(HEMIPTERA:PENTATOMIDAE) 
By Patrick J. Lanigan 1 and Edward M. Barrows 2 
Introduction 
Murgantia histrionica (Hahn) is an economically important pest 
of brassiaceous crops in Central and Southern United States. As- 
pects of its biology have been studied by Paddock (1918), Chitten- 
den (1920), White and Brannon (1933), and Canerday (1965); how- 
ever, its sexual behavior has not been studied in detail. Therefore, 
we studied courtship, copulation, polygyny, and polyandry in this 
bug. Fish and Alcock (1973) and Gamboa and Alcock (1973) have 
reviewed the literature on pentatomid courtship and copulation. 
Materials and Methods 
In July and August, 1976, nymphs and adults of M. histrionica 
were collected in Washington, D. C. from cabbage, Brassica olera- 
cea capitata L.; broccoli, B. o. cymosa L.; and radish, Raphanus 
sativa L. Groups of four to seven adult or nymphal bugs were 
maintained in petri dishes in the laboratory. The laboratory was 
illuminated with flourescent light and indirect sunlight, and tem- 
peratures varied from 24 to 38° C. Bugs were fed pieces of leaves 
of B. o. capitata or R. sativa that were changed about daily. When 
conspicuous mold appeared on bug feces in petri dishes, bugs were 
transferred to clean dishes to reduce mortality. 
Only virgin adults were used in the study of courtship and copu- 
lation to reduce possible behavioral variability due to learned sex- 
ual behavior. In each trial of the experiment a male was removed 
from his dish with forceps and placed in a dish with a female. The 
female’s dish was placed on white paper to provide a good back- 
ground for observation. Food was removed from a female’s cham- 
1 Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., 20057. 
department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., 20057, and 
The University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, Michigan, 49769. Send 
reprint requests to E. M. Barrows at Georgetown University. 
Manuscript received by the editor November 10, 1977. 
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