Male Courtship Patterns and Female Receptivity Signal of Pteromalinae (Hym., Pteromalidae), With a Consideration of Some Evolutionary Trends and a Comment On the Taxonomic Position of Pachycrepoideus Vindemiae

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Abstract
Courtship behaviour of a number of species of Pteromalinae (Hym., Pteromalidae) was observed (species are listed in Table I). This paper is a preliminary report about the general properties of courtship in this group of chalcids. Pteromaline males court from a frontal position on the female, the male's front feet being placed on the female's head capsule. The male's courtship repertoire is species-characteristic and presents a number of features that can be used for species recognition (in some cases, e.g. Muscidifurax species, behaviour characters are more easily used than morphological ones in species recognition). Movements with ab- domen, wings, mid legs, front legs, antennae, head and mouth parts may be involved in the male's repertoire. Some of these motor coordinations are very ritualised, others do not differ from the presumed originals. Some suggestions are made on the origin of the ritualised components of the displays. The relative importance of the components that are involved in courtship se- quences seems to differ between species; a comparison of repertoires leads to the con- clusion that there has been a shift of emphasis from more caudally towards more frontally located attributes. This trend is not restricted to within the Pteromalinae but probably affects the Pteromalidae (if not the Chalcidoidea) as a whole. In more primitive groups the courtship position is rather caudal, in other groups the position is more to the front. The extremely frontal position of the Pteromalinae may be the result of a development in evolution towards a more effective communication between partners. Presumably, communication that takes place closer to the sites of greatest sensitivity (head and front tarsi, where many sense organs are located) is more effective (less ambiguous) than communication over greater distances. Courting at the front, however, involves some risk for the male because in crowded situations it was observed that rivals sometimes copulated before the male that performed the courtship sequence was able to do so.

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