THE BIOLOGY OF TRICHADENOTECNUM ALEXANDERAE 
SOMMERMAN(PSOCOPTERA: PSOCIDAE). 
III. ANALYSIS OF MATING BEHAVIOR 
By B. W. Betz' 
Introduction 
Several authors have described mating behavior in species of Pso- 
coptera (Pearman 1928, Sommerman 1943a, 1943b, 1944, 1956, 
Badonnel 1951, Thornton and Broadhead 1954, Klier 1956, Mock- 
ford 1957, 1977, Broadhead 1961, Eertmoed 1966). Only one or at 
most a few matings in a species were observed. This paper presents a 
comprehensive analysis of pre- through post-copulatory behavior in 
Trichadenotecnum alexanderae Sommerman. Evidence is presented 
for a sex-attractant pheromone, produced only by females that were 
receptive to mating. 
Trichadenotecnum alexanderae is a relatively common psocid in 
eastern United States (Betz 1983a). The species inhabits trees and 
rock outcroppings providing its principal food source, pleurococ- 
cine algae. Betz (1983a) found that T. alexanderae is capable of 
facultative thelytoky. Formerly, the species was confused morpho- 
logically with three other species, all obligatorily thelytokous, which 
have been identified and described as T. castum Betz, T. merum 
Betz, and T. innuptum Betz (Betz 1983a). 
This paper is part of a series (cf. Betz 1983b, c, d) detailing the life 
history of T. alexanderae. 
Materials and Methods 
Cultures of T. alexanderae were obtained from three populations 
in Illinois: at Moraine View State Park (McLean County), along the 
Sangamon River at Lake of the Woods (Champaign County), and 
along the Salt Fork River at Champaign County Forest Preserve 
District — Homer Lake (Champaign County). 
Specimens were collected from tree trunks with an aspirator and 
kept with pieces of bark in cotton-stoppered test tubes. Cultures 
were transported to the laboratory over ice-water in a cooler. 
MOOO North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 6061 1. 
Manuscript received by the editor August 16. 1982. 
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