1979] 
Silberglied, Aiello & Lamas — Genus Anartia 
239 
Courtship and mating 
Male A. fatima use both ‘waiting’ and ‘seeking’ behaviors (Mag¬ 
nus, 1963) to locate females. ‘Waiting’ males are found sitting on 
vegetation, often with wings slightly spread, from which they fly to 
inspect nearly any butterfly that passes. These chases may be quite 
prolonged, even when chasing other species or conspecific males. 
While such behavior has often been called ‘aggressive’ (e.g., Walker, 
in Brown and Heineman, 1972), we know of no way to differentiate 
it from simple inspection flights in which the responses of the 
pursued individual provides information to the pursuer (see Silber¬ 
glied, 1977). Under crowded conditions in flight cages, groups of 
males sometimes form ‘strings,’ each male courting the one ahead. 
Males often return to the same waiting site after an unsuccessful 
chase. A. jatrophae males seem to prefer lower waiting sites than 
males of A. amathea and A. fatima. 
When chasing, the male of A fatima attempts to get above and 
slightly behind the female. If she does not avoid him, the male 
executes a ‘bobbing’ flight, during which he may be sending chemi¬ 
cal and/or visual signals. Such ‘bobbing’ pairs persist for up to 
several minutes, the female descending lower and lower until she 
alights upon vegetation. The male alights next to the female, and 
attempts to couple with her by bending his abdomen laterally as he 
walks forward (Emmel, 1972), but she may still refuse his advances 
by flying off, or by spreading her wings. A side-to-side motion of the 
sitting female has been reported as denial behavior in A. amathea 
(Fosdick, 1973). 
‘Seeking’ males fly low into vegetation, where they are often suc¬ 
cessful in locating and mating with teneral females (Emmel, 1972). 
Females usually mate during their first two days of adult life, but 
males generally do not mate until the third day after eclosion (R. E. 
S. and A. A., in prep.). Males do not mate more than once per day, 
but may mate on several days in succession. We have known indi¬ 
vidual males to mate up to nine times and still be capable of produc¬ 
ing a spermatophore. 
Color and pattern appear to be important stimuli to males seek¬ 
ing females. Preference tests with dummies of A. fatima show that 
males prefer normally-colored females, and that obliteration of 
either the light bands or red markings reduces the number of 
approaches (Emmel, 1972; Taylor, 1973). Female A. fatima with 
