Chemosensory cues allow male lizards Psammodromus algirus to override visual concealment of sexual identity by satellite males

Abstract

Males of many species of lizards show conspicuous breeding colors but, in some species, young competitively inferior males conceal their sexual identity by a female-like dull coloration that allows them to evade aggression from dominant males and to adopt an alternative satellite-sneaking mating tactic. However, large males of the lizard Psammodromus algirus reacted aggressively to young intruder males despite their female-like coloration, suggesting that they might have the ability to recognize competitor males by chemosensory cues. We experimentally manipulated the head coloration (brown vs orange) and scents (male vs female) of small young males. For staged agonistic encounters, we compared the response of resident unmanipulated large males to the different manipulated small males. When we manipulated only the color of small males, the response of resident large males was independent of the paint manipulation; brown and orange males elicited a similar aggressive response. However, when we also manipulated the scent, small males painted orange or brown, but bearing the scent of males, received a significantly higher number of aggressive responses than small males painted orange or brown, but bearing the scent of females. The results showed that, at close range, the reaction of large males to manipulated individuals was dependent on the scent, whereas color seemed to be less important. Coloration may be, however, more important in long-distance communication as shown by the outcome of the first encounters. Also, orange coloration may increase the intensity of the aggressive response. Effective sex recognition by territorial large males is important in natural situations to avoid sneak matings by young male competitors. Thus, even if small males visually conceal their sexual identity, chemosensory cues allow large males to identify them at close range.