Studies on the Mating Behavior of the Cockroach, Nauphoeta cinerea OLIVIER : 1. Sex Discrimination by Males

Abstract

During courtship behavior, the male of Nauphoeta cinerea raises his wings and tegmina upon recognizing a sexually-mature female. The recognition takes place by touching the female with the antennae. The male than attracts the female by secreting "seducin" from the tergal gland. In contrast, when the male meets another male, mutual aggressive antennal fencing is often observed. N. cinerea males recognize the difference between male and female by contact chemoreception, mostly through antennal contact to the antennae and body. The chemical factors responsible for sex discrimination were extracted from the body surface of each sex and their effect on the male wing-raising behavior was investigated.