Patterns of throat colour variation in Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus, a high-altitude gecko endemic to the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco
| Autor: | Tahar Slimani, Catherine Verreault, Hassan El Mouden, Olivier Lourdais, Abdellah Bouazza, Gabriel Blouin-Demers |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Département de biologie (Université d'Ottawa), University of Ottawa [Ottawa], Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Biodiversité et Dynamique des Écosystèmes, Université Cadi Ayyad [Marrakech] (UCA), Parc de la Gatineau, Commission de la Capitale Nationale |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus genetic structures Ontogeny Zoology Orange (colour) sexual size dimorphism 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences 03 medical and health sciences Throat colour polymorphism medicine sexual selection Gecko Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 030304 developmental biology 0303 health sciences Natural selection biology sexual dichromatism natural selection biology.organism_classification Sexual dimorphism medicine.anatomical_structure Sexual selection [SDE]Environmental Sciences Animal Science and Zoology |
| Zdroj: | Amphibia-Reptilia Amphibia-Reptilia, Brill Academic Publishers, 2013, 34, pp.567-572. ⟨10.1163/15685381-00002900⟩ |
| ISSN: | 0173-5373 1568-5381 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/15685381-00002900⟩ |
| Popis: | The persistence of marked phenotypic variation within species is evolutionarily puzzling. We uncovered remarkable variation in throat colouration in a high-altitude gecko (Atlas Day Gecko, Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus) endemic to the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Orange, yellow, and white variants were found in approximately equal proportions in both sexes, and in juveniles and adults. The colour variants did not differ in body size or in body condition, but there was some indication that orange males have relatively longer jaws than white or yellow males. The number of mites harboured by an individual was not a function of its sex or of its throat colouration, but larger lizards did harbour more mites. Our data do not support the hypotheses that throat colour variation is due to selection pressures differing between the sexes or through ontogeny, or signals immunocompetence, but offer some support for the hypothesis that throat colour variation signals dominance. Future investigations on the evolution of throat colour variation in this species should use spectrophotometry to obtain finer colour classification and incorporate measures of fitness. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|