1983] 
Betz — Biology of Trichadenotecnum 
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attempts (N = 45) I observed. Most precopulatory behavior fol- 
lowed the patterns outlined in Figure 1. 
When bark bearing an isolated, receptive female was brought 
together with bark bearing a sexually active male, the male always 
ran onto the female’s bark. A male displayed a higher level of activ- 
ity under these conditions than if his piece of bark was brought 
together with bark bearing a nymph, a female of T. alexanderae in 
an unreceptive state, or a piece of bark without an insect (N = 7). In 
five of the mating encounters I observed, the male flew onto the 
female’s bark before the two pieces of bark were touching. 
This higher level of activity in males occurred even if females were 
placed out of the males’ sight. Almost immediately after a male ran 
onto the bark of a female, he began a search over the substrate. 
Sometimes a female remained motionless during this search, even 
though she might have been active prior to the introduction of a 
male. The manner in which males elicited this reaction of females 
remains unknown, although the reaction may have resulted from 
the slight disturbance caused by the introduction of pieces of bark 
into the females’ vials. 
A male searched in the direction of a female, often stopping 
momentarily to flick his antennae and adjust his course. 
When a male approached within about 1 cm of a receptive female 
he began a quick, sideways gait while moving toward her, even 
though she may have remained hidden from the male’s view. The 
sideways gait lasted about 1-2 seconds. Occasionally a male ap- 
proached a receptive female, or courted her, without the sideways 
gait (N= 12). Females always fled from these encounters. When a 
female fled, a male remained in the vicinity of the encounter and 
spun completely around one or more times flicking his antennae. 
Then a male usually ran off in the general direction of a female’s 
flight. Unless unsuccessful courtship occurred many times (usually 
the result of a male not performing the sideways gait), a female 
would always acquiesce at the next courting. 
After performing the sideways gait, a male ran up to a female’s 
side, about midway along her length; a male approached a female 
almost perpendicularly from her side. If features on the substrate 
made a male’s approach difficult, his contact with a female was as 
perpendicular to her as the substrate permitted. When a male ran up 
to a female, he touched her briefly (less than a second) with both his 
antennae. A male’s antennae usually struck a female’s thorax or 
head and the distal end of her forewing because his antennae were 
