German cockroach males exhibit a typical courtship behavior upon contacting a mature and sexually receptive female. The behavior includes an unambiguous elevation of the wings, which occurs only during courtship. The contact pheromone responsible for inducing this behavior is a mixture of methyl ketone hydrocarbon derivatives, four of which have been identified. Surprisingly, newly emerged females, males and nymphs produce the same effect. We found that, unlike males, who lose their ability to stimulate courtship behavior in mature males within a few days after the adult molt, nymphs retain this capacity throughout the whole last stadium. The semiochemicals responsible for this phenomenon are currently being investigated using behavioral assays to guide their isolation from nymph cuticular lipids. Behaviorally active compounds that have been isolated by flash chromatography, HPLC, and preparative-GC were found to be different from the female contact sex pheromone. Although the adaptive significance of this behavior remains to be elucidated, it offers insight into the evolution of the sexual communication system of B. germanica.
Species 1: Blattodea Blattellidae Blattella germanica (German cockroach)
Keywords: contact pheromone, courtship behavior
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