ABSTRACTThe amount of the major component of the cuticular sex pheromone, 3, 11‐dimethyl‐2‐nonacosanone, on individual female German cockroaches,Blattella germanica(L.), as a function of age was determined by gas‐liquid‐chromatographic analysis. Accumulation of phermone increased with age in both virgin and mated females. During the first gono‐trophic cycle, the pheromone accumulated most rapidly when oocyte growth rates were maximal (days 5–10), and least rapidly while the female carried an ootheca (days 11–32). Pheromone accumulation was similar in virgin and mated females when the same physiological stages (determined by oocyte maturation) were considered. Inhibition of Juvenile Hormone release, through allatectomy, chemicals (precocene or fluoromevalonate), or through mechanical egg case implants, suppressed or delayed pheromone production and oocyte growth. The Juvenile Hormone analogue ZR512 induced allatectomized or head‐ligated females and females with chemically or mechanically inhibited corpora allata to produce pheromone and enlarge their basal oocytes. Finally, ZR512 applied to intact females stimulated pheromone production in a dose