Courtship Behavior of a Phycitid Moth, Vitula edmandsae1,2

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Abstract
The courtship behavior of V. edmandsae (Packard) is described and compared to that of 2 other closely related phycitid moths, Plodia interpunctella (H ü bner), the Indian meal moth (IMM), and Cadra cautella (Walker), the almond moth (ALM). When the male approaches the female from the rear and nudges her abdomen, she normally turns 180° as in IMM courtship. In some cases, the female does not turn, in which case the male circles around to the front of the female, as in ALM courtship. During courtship, the edmandsae male displays scent scales in the costal folds at the base of the forewings. Removal of the male' s forewings including scent scales or removal of the female' s antennae elicits ♀ rejection behavior and reduces mating success to just 5%, indicating that the male releases a sex pheromone from these scales. Observations of homocourtships did not show that the ♂ pheromone inhibits courtship behavior of nearby conspecific males.

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