Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1987

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Zoology

Major Professor

Arthur C. Echternacht

Committee Members

Gordon Burghardt, Neil Greenberg

Abstract

The gray-throated form of the lizard Anolis carolinensis (Iguanidae) occupies a small range on the southwest margin of Florida, a range that adjoins and overlaps that of the typical red-throated Anolis carolinensis. Very little is known of how the two forms interact with one another.

This study sought to determine whether either red or gray-throated females, when given the choice between red and gray-throated males, would prefer males of their own or the alternative throat color.

Within throat-color groups, neither red-throated nor gray-throated females exhibited significant preference for either throat color morph. Some individual females of either dewlap color, however, exhibited a strong preference for a certain male, but the male selected did not necessarily have the throat color characteristic of the population from which the female was drawn.

Five (3 gray, 2 red) of 21 females tested exhibited highly significant preferences. A female "fidelity factor" is identified for females which exhibit strong preference for a given male. In an additional and unexpected result, gray-throated males often exhibited dominance over red-throated males and were selected by females despite being smaller than their red-throated counterparts. A possible explanation for the "fidelity factor" is proposed and placed in evolutionary and ecological context. The gray-throated male superiority is also placed within this context and both it and the "fidelity factor" are discussed as possible means by which the boundary between the two color morphs is maintained.

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