precourtship

English

Etymology

pre- +‎ courtship

Adjective

precourtship (not comparable)

1. (biology) Before courtship.
   • 2015 June 22, Chengzhe Li et al., “Adult Behavior of Tirumala limniace (Lepidoptera: Danaidae)”, in Journal of Insect Science‎^[1], volume 15, →DOI:

     From a behavioral point of view, the life of this butterfly could be divided into four stages: the precourtship adult stage (from the 1st to the 8th days after emergence), the nectar-feeding stage, which promotes egg development (from the 2nd to the 16th days), courtship and mating (from the 6th to the 13th days), and oviposition (from the 7th to the 15th days).