Mating Behaviour in the Bug, Pyrrhocoris Ap Ter Us L. (Heteroptera): Ontogeny and Its Environmental Control

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Abstract
I. The male mating behaviour in Pyrrhocoris apterus is initiated by a non-specific response to a moving object. For its completion olfactory stimuli perceived by the terminal antennal segment are necessary. An active female contributes to the epigamic interactions by releasing an attractive factor, and mainly by manifesting her receptivity upon tactile stimulation of the courting male. 2. Non-diapausing specimens (kept in 18 hr/day photophase) start to mate 3 to 5 days after the imaginal moult; in males the sexual activity does not fluctuate throughout the imaginal instar; in females drops in activity were recorded in connection with cyclic oviposition. 3. Starvation following the itnaginal moult does not Interfere with development of the sexual instinct in males. On the contrary, females do not display sexual activity until they are fed; this applies to females after the moult or after oviposition. Feeding is thus an initial stimulus not only for oogenesis in each consecutive cycle but also for the onset of sexual activity in non-diapausing females. 4. Diapausing specimens of both sexes (kept in 8-12 hr/day photophase) are sexually inactive. In the male, this in the most significant sign indicating the imaginal diapause.

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