• 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 45  (1) , 85-103
Abstract
As part of a study of sexual behavior in 6 spp. of closely related and often sympatric cockroaches [P. americana, P. fuliginosa, P. japonica, P. brunnea, P. australasiae, B. orientalis], interspecific interactions among the various species were examined. To some degree .male..male. of nearly all species court .female..female. of a 2nd species. .female..female. almost always rejected these courtship attempts. Experimental evidence indicates that the volatile female sex pheromone of each species is attractive to .male..male. of most of the other species. Rejection of heterospecific .male..male. appears to be due to species specific male pheromones. These pheromones also appear to mediate the formation of homospecific clusters of courting .male..male. in time of space.