1983] 
Betz — Biology of Trichadenotecnum 
HI 
Postcopulatory Behavior 
The final stage of copulation was indicated by a slowing of the 
rate of abdominal contractions and by contractions of a slightly 
more spasmodic nature. Males suddenly became active and broke 
off copulation (Table 3, A) by quickly running forward, dragging 
along the females for about 1 second until their genitalia unlocked. 
Of the 60 pairs I observed for this behavioral character, only two 
females (3.3%) appeared to break off copulation. In each of these 
matings, the female became active during copulation and tried to 
dismount laterally, but her genitalia were locked with the male’s and 
this caused her to fall on her side. One female successfully dis- 
mounted, thus terminating copulation. The other female failed to 
dismount, and instead tried to assume a normal mating position 
three times, but because the genitalia were locked she was kept 
off-balance. Copulation continued with the female supported tenu- 
ously off a side of the male. 
A spermatophore was passed in all copulations, including the one 
broken off by a female. 
Table 3 (B) shows the reactions of males after copulation was 
broken off. Most (53.5%) males ran forward about 1 cm, then 
remained motionless for at least 5 minutes. Some of these males had 
their wings parted slightly and held laterally along their bodies, but 
most males brought the wings back to a normal resting position. 
Some (28.2%) males were highly active after copulation, and ran 
over the substrate without stopping for over 5 minutes. Other 
(12.7%) males broke off copulation and remained almost at the 
place where copulation occurred. A few (5.6%) males courted the 
females they had just mated, but this always caused the females to 
flee. 
The reactions of females after copulation (Table 3, C) were 
somewhat different than those of males. Most (60.0%) females 
remained in the area where copulation occurred; almost all of these 
females spun around about 90°, some females spun around about 
180°. If a female ran off, she usually ran in the direction of a male 
because both faced in the same direction during mating. Females 
that ran, even for 1 cm, never spun around more than 90°. 
Unless disturbed by another insect, once females stopped walking 
after mating they rarely moved until the contents of the spermato- 
phore that they held had been transferred. Even the antennae did 
