THE BEHAVIOR OF CHLOROCHROA LIGATA (SAY) AND COSMOPEPLA BIMACULATA (THOMAS), (HEMIPTERA:PENTATOMIDAE)' Jill Fish 2 and John Alcock 3 The behavior of relatively few pentatomid stinkbugs has been reported in any detail. Nevertheless; the accounts of their activities that do exist indicate that the courtship and mating activities of these insects are highly diverse and worthy of study (Kullenberg, 1 947 ;Teyrovsky, 1949; Southwood and Hine, 1950;Leston, 1955; Southwoodand Leston, 1959; Kaufmann, 1966; Mitchell and Mau, 1969; Tostowaryk, 1971). Recently one of us discovered a species (Euschistus conspersus Uhler) that initiates copulation with the male facing directly away from the female as he inserts his aedea-gus (Alcock, 1972). To the best of our knowledge, this behavior has been recorded for a pentatomid only once previously (Mitchell and Mau, 1969) and would appear to be rarely practiced by the Heteroptera in general (Weber, 1930; Grasse, 1951). Typically male bugs mount the female inserting the aedeagus while facing in the same direction as their mate before dismounting to turn 180 away from the female. This paper reports our observations of mat-ing and some other activities by two species of Pentatomidae. Chlorochroa ligata This is one of the commonest of all Chlorochroa and is abundant in the Seattle area especially in blackberry patches (Rubus laciniatum). This species was studied in the laboratory and field from mid-May 1972 through mid-August 1972. The primary field location consisted of a dense blackberry tangle near the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. In addition, groups of bugs were kept in a 5 gal. terrarium and fed green beans. 'Accepted for publication: December 14, 1972. 2 5306 24th Avenue, N.E., Seattle, Wash. 98105. 3 Department of Zoology, Arizona State University, Tempe 85281. Ent. News, 84:260-268, 1973 260
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