1979] Johnson & Morrison — Behavior of Coniopterygidae 397 
union even when the adults were picked up by the wings with for¬ 
ceps. No postcoital courtship behavior was observed. 
While a pair was in copulo, additional males sometimes 
approached. These males would locate the posterior of the mating 
pair, push under the male, grasp his legs and assume a coital stance. 
These secondary males would remain in this position for several 
mins, attempting to mate with the male. In one instance involving C. 
barretti, a third male joined “the chain” and attempted to mate with 
the second male. 
During one collection period, several males and females of S. 
angusta and C. californica were in the same vial. Two males and one 
female of C. californica were observed exhibiting precopulatory 
behavior but no S. angusta were observed in this position. A male of 
C. californica then attempted to mate with the much smaller female 
of S. angusta. The male grasped 3 legs of the female and attempted 
unsuccessfully for ca. 45 min. to mate. 
In another instance, 2 different males of C. californica grasped 
and attempted to mate with a male which had just concluded mating 
with a female. On yet another occasion, while collecting on Cupres- 
sus semperiverns L. in the Los Angeles State and County Arbore¬ 
tum, ca. 15 males were observed clustered and flying within 0.5 m of 
a female on a branch. 
These observations seem to indicate the presence of a female sex 
pheromone. No mention of a female sex pheromone has previously 
been reported in the Coniopterygidae. 
Mating has now been observed in 6 species of Coniopterygidae. 
The 3 species reported herein, in addition to P. annae and C. pine- 
ticola, all exhibit the staggered, parallel, female-above position. 
These 5 species are all within the subfamily Coniopteryginae. The 
one species having tail-to-tail mating behavior, A. juniperis, is in the 
subfamily Aleuropteryginae. Perhaps additional observations on 
other species will indicate that mating behavior is a distinguishing 
subfamily characteristic. 
References 
COLLYER, E. 
1951. The separation of Conwentzia pineticola End. from Conwentzia psoci- 
formis (Curt.) and notes on their biology. Bull. Entomol. Res. 
42:555-564. 
