98 
Psyche 
[Vol. 90 
Laboratory cultures were kept in cotton-stoppered test tubes. 
Each tube was supplied ad libitum with food in the form of pleuro- 
coccine algae on bark. Culture tubes were stored in closed, glass 
desiccator jars over a saturated potassium chloride (KCl) solution to 
maintain a relative humidity of 80 ±5%. The temperature regimen 
for rearing was 23.3° : 1 8.0° C light:dark, and the photoperiod was 1 5 
h light:9 h dark. Illumination was 4300 lumens/ m^, supplied by 
incandescent and fluorescent lamps. 
Because the other species of the T. alexanderae complex are oblig- 
atorily thelytokous and often occur sympatrically with the biparental 
species, I began a laboratory culture of T. alexanderae from each 
locality with females mated in the laboratory to assure the identity 
of the culture as the biparental species. Several breeding pairs 
were used to begin a culture, an attempt to represent the genetic 
diversity of the original sample from the field population. 1 also 
examined the morphology of the original breeding pairs to verify 
that they were T. alexanderae. 1 used bark obtained only from the 
original field locality in cultures; bark was examined for eggs before 
it was placed in a culture. 
Mating behavior was studied in adults from Lake Dawson, Lake 
of the Woods, and Salt Fork cultures. Adults were isolated as late 
stage nymphs and reared in shell vials (four dram size). Each vial 
was supplied with a flat piece of bark which lessened the interference 
of the substrate on mating behavior. Females were 2-3 days old and 
males were 2-5 days old when brought together, the times when they 
were the most receptive to mating (Betz 1983c). Isolated specimens 
were brought together by the following method. The cotton stopper 
on each vial was removed, the open ends of pairs of vials were 
apposed, and the vials were tilted carefully until the piece of bark in 
the vial containing a male contacted the bark in the vial containing a 
female. The open ends of pairs of vials were kept together and the 
vials were not moved during observation of the insects. The method 
I used to bring together isolated specimens did not appear to disturb 
the insects greatly, and thus probably provided accurate observa- 
tions of courtship behavior. 
Results 
Precopulatory Behavior 
The behavior of male and female T. alexanderae was somewhat 
variable among the successful matings (N = 99) and the unsuccessful 
