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Breeding burrows of Parastizopus armaticeps armaticeps, a fossorial desert tenebrionid beetle, are cleptoparasitised by the closely related Eremostibes opacus. Gas chromatographic analyses show a high congruity of the cuticular hydrocarbons of both species. We compare these hydrocarbon patterns with those of four other Stizopina species and the Scaurini Herpiscius sommeri. In a bioassay, dummies treated with cuticular hydrocarbon extracts of E. opacus and the P. a. bifidus parasite E. bushmanicus were mostly ignored by P. a. armaticeps, whereas dummies with applied extracts of the remaining species were heavily attacked. We show that there is a correlation between agonistic behaviour of P. a. armaticeps towards the intruder and the chemical similarity of the cuticular hydrocarbons of the two species. Furthermore, we produced quantitatively modified hydrocarbon patterns of E. barbatus by changing the temperature at which this species was kept. The new 30 degrees C type was chemically similar to E. opacus, and was frequently ignored by P. a. armaticeps, whereas a reduction of the temperature to 20 degrees C only had minor effects on the hydrocarbon pattern. Furthermore, we show that the addition of one single component, heptacosane, to the cuticular hydrocarbon extract of E. opacus alters the host’s reaction. We discuss the role of cuticular hydrocarbons for the recognition of this host-parasite system and the relevance of quantitative characters in the hydrocarbon pattern for the discrimination of the host.