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Female European green lizards (Lacerta viridis) prefer males with high ultraviolet throat reflectance

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Abstract

The role of ultraviolet (UV) signals in intraspecific communication has been identified in a number of vertebrate taxa. In lizards, the signalling role of UV has only been shown in male–male competition and male mate choice. Here, we investigated whether male UV colour can be a basis of female association preference in European green lizards (Lacerta viridis), a species where males develop blue nuptial throat colouration with high UV reflectance. We experimentally manipulated the UV colour of male pairs, where the members of the pair did not differ significantly in body length, body weight, head size, throat UV chroma and brightness or throat blue chroma and brightness measured prior to colour manipulation. By providing these pairs of males to females (only visual stimuli could be perceived by the females), we assessed the role of UV in female association preference irrespective of other potentially important visual traits. We found that unmated but receptive females preferred males of higher UV reflectance. Our results show for the first time that UV colour can be an important male signal in female preference in reptiles.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Közép- Duna- Völgyi Környezetvédelmi, Természetvédelmi és Vízügyi Felügyelőség for permission to conduct this study (Project no.: 15954-2/2008). We are highly indebted to Gergely Hegyi and Natasha LeBas for their constructive comments leading to improvements of the manuscript and Johan Kotze for correcting the English. This work was supported by an OTKA (Országos Tudományos Kutatási Alapprogramok; ref. no. F68403) grant to G. H.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/c, 1117, Budapest, Hungary

    Katalin Bajer, Orsolya Molnár, János Török & Gábor Herczeg

  2. Ecological Genetics Research Unit, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, FI-00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Gábor Herczeg

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  1. Katalin Bajer
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  2. Orsolya Molnár
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  4. Gábor Herczeg
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Correspondence to Gábor Herczeg.

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Communicated by S. Downes

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Bajer, K., Molnár, O., Török, J. et al. Female European green lizards (Lacerta viridis) prefer males with high ultraviolet throat reflectance. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 2007–2014 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1012-2

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