PATTERNS OF MATING AND FECUNDITY 
IN SEVERAL COMMON GREEN LACEWINGS 
(. NEUROPTERA : CHRYSOPIDAE) 
OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA* 
By Charles S. Henry and Christine Busher 
Box U-43, Dept, of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 
The University of Connecticut, 75 North Eagleville Road 
Storrs, Connecticut 06268 (U.S.A.) 
Recently, much interest and innovative research have focussed on 
the mating systems of animals (Thornhill and Alcock, 1983; Willson 
and Burley, 1983). Our interpretation and understanding of repro- 
ductive behavior, for example, has undergone a metamorphosis in 
the last few years. In the recent past, such common reproductive 
activities as courtship were viewed as steps to overcome some sort of 
physiological threshold in the female of the species (Marler and 
Hamilton, 1966, chapter 3), or, alternatively, as mechanisms to pre- 
vent the interbreeding (hybridization) of different species (Mayr, 
1963). However, principally since the publication in the mid 1970’s 
of works by Alexander (1975, 1977) and Wilson (1975), evolution- 
ary biologists have adopted a rather different view of courtship and 
other reproductive behavior. This perspective is a more inclusive 
one, stressing the evolutionary or selective benefits to individuals of 
behaving the way they do during sexual activity. Courtship is more 
properly viewed as a series of test questions posed by the courting 
individual to its potential partner. The answers to these questions 
help the individual decide where the other individual is located; 
what species and sex that individual is, to avoid costly mistakes in 
mating; and how good a mate that individual will make, in terms of 
its vigor, strength, and success at intrasexual competition or at se- 
curing resources for its partner. In fact, the ultimate goal of repro- 
ductive behavior is success in transmitting an individual’s genes to 
the next generation, through the production of viable, fit offspring. 
Individual reproductive success can be achieved in a variety of 
ways. Females can have very high fecundity, or they may provide 
more care or resources for fewer offspring. Additional strategies are 
* Manuscript received by the editor September 25, 1987 
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