1980] 
Hook & Matthews — Biology of Oxebelus 
27 
Figure 3. Copulation in O. sericeus. The male is dorsal and grasps the female’s 
wings with his middle legs while antennating her frons. The female’s prey (Nanomvina 
litorea) has been temporarily dropped to permit copulation. 
site and guarding lost prey. Patrolling consisted of cruising low (5 cm 
above ground) throughout the nest area without associating with 
particular nests. Males commonly used this behavior when searching 
for active nests to guard or exposed females. At times females 
provisioned infrequently, causing the majority of males to adopt the 
patrolling strategy. Guarding the initial landing site was possible 
because, as mentioned, prey-laden females typically land away from 
the nest and then proceed to enter. On five occasions a male ceased 
nest guarding and instead took up defense of a territory about the 
initial landing site. Two conditions seemed prerequisite to this 
strategy: first, intense male competition for the nest territory; second, 
a propensity by the female to land repeatedly in the same area prior to 
entry. On ten occasions prey were abandoned by females when 
intensively interfered with by one or more males. When this occurred, 
males perched next to the prey, chased off intruding males and 
copulated with the female if she returned. 
Male-Male Competition. It became apparent during the 1977 
season that there was considerable individual variation in the number 
