Wednesday 23 January 2013

Color-assortative mating in a color-polymorphic lacertid lizard – via Herp Digest

Authors: Pérez i de Lanuza, Guillem1; Font, Enrique1; Carazo, Pau2

Source: Behavioral Ecology, Volume 24, Number 1, 17 October 2013 , pp. 273-279(7)

The date of publication is not a typo on my part, but that is how it is listed. I’d also try 2012.

Publisher: Oxford University Press
Abstract:

Color polymorphisms are common in lizards, which provide an excellent model system to study their evolution and adaptive function. The lacertid genus Podarcis is particularly interesting because it comprises several polymorphic species. Previous studies with lacertid lizards have tried to explain the maintenance of color polymorphisms by correlational selection between color morphs and several phenotypic traits. Particular attention has been paid to their putative role as signals reflecting alternative reproductive strategies under frequency-dependent selection, but the relationship between mating patterns and color polymorphism has not been previously considered. In this study, we use longitudinal behavioral data obtained during six consecutive breeding seasons (2006-2011) in a free-ranging polymorphic population of Podarcis muralis lizards to examine the hypothesis that lizards mate assortatively by color. We provide spectrophotometric data that confirm the existence of discrete color morphs and show that morphs are ontogenetically stable once they develop fully in sexually mature individuals. We also present data on the year-to-year variation of relative morph frequencies. Finally, we provide evidence that, over a 6-year period, homomorphic male-female pairs in the wild were significantly more common than heteromorphic pairs. Taken together, our results suggest that color assortative mating may be involved in the maintenance of discrete color morphs in this and other lacertid species.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ars164

Affiliations: 1: Ethology Lab, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, 46071 Valencia,Spain and , 2: Ethology Lab, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, 46071 Valencia,Spain and , ,

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