194 
Psyche 
[June 
female venter alternately with his left and right antennae, and then 
the female raises her abdomen to approximately 30° above the 
substrate. Females may escape during this step. 
(6) With his aedeagus extended, the male makes a 180° turn 
which maneuvers him into a position from which he initiates linear 
copulation. Unreceptive females may also escape at this time. 
(7) The male elevates his abdomen and backs directly against 
the female, and he initiates copulation. 
(8) Once the pair starts copulating, they use their middle and 
hindlegs to jerk their bodies up and down. In 14 observations, 
jerking lasted from 10 to 185 sec (X = 52, M = 48). This behavior 
also occurred from 5 min to 6 hr after copulation initiation. 
(9) The male rapidly strokes up and down the sides of the fe- 
male abdomen with both his hindlegs. This occurs during and 
after body jerking. Male leg stroking of the female lasted from 4 
to 27 sec (X = 13, M = 11, N 1 14). 
(10) The pair crawls in the petri dish with the female, which is 
usually larger, pulling the male in most cases. In 71 observation 
periods, copulating pairs remained motionless from 5 to 1260 sec 
(X = 453, M = 315). When food was placed in the chamber after 
several hours of its absence, bugs often fed while in copula. Copu- 
lation duration ranged from 5.4 to at least 8.3 hr. The termination 
of copulation was not observed in most pairs. 
In petri dishes, a common female escape behavior was quick- 
crawling to dish sides with the male in pursuit. Females on dish 
sides continued at steady paces and males followed them with 
quick-crawling bouts interspersed with rests. Males waved anten- 
nae as they approached females. If males reached females, or if 
females stopped, courtship was hindered because females often 
escaped when males tried to move in front of them. Females also 
escaped while males antennated their sides, venters, and when 
males made 180° turns before aedeagal insertions. Males that were 
on dish tops or bottoms courted females which were on dish sides, 
but males did not crawl on dish sides to attain typical positions 
that occur during copulation initiation. In other situations, two 
females raised their wings as males approached, and they crawled 
away as males attempted to court them. 
Murgantia histrionica was polygynous and polyandrous in the 
laboratory. In the polygamy experiment, two males copulated 
with four different females; four males, with three females; and 
