Hormonal Induction of Color Change in Female Leopard Lizards, Crotaphytus wislizenii

Medica, Philip A.; Turner, Frederick; Smith, Dan

doi:10.2307/1443064

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…If orange markings signaled rejection to males, the maintenance of markings throughout the season would reduce the probability that later clutches would be fertilized (LeBas and Marshall, 2000). Furthermore, males continued to court females after they had developed orange markings, and courtship of females with markings has also been reported in other populations of C. collaris (Cooper, 1984;Fitch, 1956) as well as other Crotaphytids (Medica et al, 1973) and Agamids (Mitchell, 1973). Observations of unmanipulated lizards revealed that males court females with orange markings more intensely than females that had not yet developed pigmentation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Among reptiles, females of numerous lizard species develop sex-specific coloration on the throat and/or lateral torso (Cooper and Greenberg, 1992;Zucker and Boecklen, 1990). In some species, female pigmentation gradually changes hue as a function of the reproductive cycle (Cooper et al, 1983;Hager, 2001;Mitchell, 1973), whereas pigmentation in others develops rapidly following ovulation and remains constant throughout the breeding season (Ferguson, 1976;Medica et al, 1973).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Reproductive Coloration in Female Collared Lizards, Crotophytus Collaris, Stimulates Courtship by Males

Baird

2004

Herpetologica

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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confidence: 99%

Reproductive Coloration in Female Collared Lizards, Crotophytus Collaris, Stimulates Courtship by Males

Baird

2004

Herpetologica

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“…Many of these studies have shown a change in female coloration associated with the breeding season. For some species, this color change has been shown to simply aid in sex recognition (Cooper and Vitt 1984), while, in other species, it may play a part in the male detection of female receptivity -signaling that either the female is willing (Cuadrado 1998;Medica et al 1973;LeBas and Marshall 2000) or unwilling (Ferguson 1976) to mate. Behavioural cues are also important to males for locating females and detecting female receptivity in some lizard species.…”

Section: Visual Detection Of Female Receptivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Male southern water skinks (Eulamprus heatwolei) use both visual and chemical cues to detect female sexual receptivity

2005

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A wide range of organisms use chemical and visual cues in mate attraction and courtship; however, chemical discrimination relevant to reproduction and the interplay between these two types of communication are poorly understood in reptiles. We experimentally tested the ability of male Eulamprus heatwolei, a scincoid lizard, to discriminate between sexually receptive and non-receptive females in two ways. First, we conducted 155 staged encounters between males and females over 29 days to determine the start and the duration of the female receptive period based on the date of copulations. These data suggest that the receptive period lasted for approximately 7 days in late October under controlled laboratory conditions. We also recorded 6,330 individual male and female behaviours during these trials to evaluate the frequency of female courtship and rejection behaviours and the intensity of male courtship behaviour. Female courtship increased sharply during the receptive period and then diminished. The disparity between female courtship behaviours and female rejection behaviours was greatest during the receptive period. Male courtship intensity increased sharply prior to the receptive period, peaked during the receptive period and thereafter declined rapidly. To determine if males were using visual cues, chemical cues or both from females, we conducted an experiment during and after the receptive period wherein male lizards were presented with a choice of two retreat sites treated either with the odour of large sexually receptive females, odour of small sexually non-receptive females or no odour (control). Males preferred the scent of females over the odourless control, and analysis using a special form of a generalized linear model, the Bradley-Terry model, showed a clear order of retreat site preferences, with large sexually receptive females favoured over small non-receptive females over the odourless control. We speculate that males use vision to find females and then use their chemosensory ability to chemically evaluate female sexual receptivity once the pair are in close proximity.

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“…In species showing gravid coloration, the color intensifies near the onset of gravidity and is retained until after oviposition. It may subsequently fade after a single seasonal clutch until the following reproductive season, e.g., in C. collaris (Fitch, 1956) and some populations of Gambelia wislizenii (Medica et al, 1973). Alternatively, it may fade and reintensify in successive clutches during a single breeding season, e.g., other G. zvislizenii (Medica et al, 1973).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It may subsequently fade after a single seasonal clutch until the following reproductive season, e.g., in C. collaris (Fitch, 1956) and some populations of Gambelia wislizenii (Medica et al, 1973). Alternatively, it may fade and reintensify in successive clutches during a single breeding season, e.g., other G. zvislizenii (Medica et al, 1973). Although coloration waxes and wanes with the reproductive cycle in the relatively few species studied, it remains possible that sexually dimorphic bright female coloration in some lizards may be retained throughout adulthood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progesterone induces bright orange throat coloration in female Petrosaurus mearnsi

McGuire

Cooper

1993

Amphib Reptilia

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Female Petrosaurus mearnsi develop orange throat coloration when gravid. This coloration was induced in the nonbreeding season (late fall) by exogenous progesterone delivered by subcutaneous implantation in Silastic capsules or intramuscular injection. Color change was first apparent after five days of administration. The time course of brightening was similar for the two methods. Color change was first apparent after five days, and was detectable in most females receiving implants after six days. For both routes of administration, maximum brightening usually occurred within three days of the time that brightening was first detected. Following removal of implants or termination of daily injections, the throat coloration of most females had begun to fade within 25 to 30 days. However, two injected females did not fade at all after sixty days and none faded completely to pretreatment coloration. This suggests that endogenous steroid production by early winter is insufficient to induce brightening, but it might maintain some degree of artificially induced brightening. Because progesterone has also been shown to induce orange female coloration in a distantly related phrynosomatid species and two species of crotaphytids, we hypothesize that induction of bright female secondary sexual coloration by progesterone may be a widespread trait in iguanian lizards.

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Hormonal Induction of Color Change in Female Leopard Lizards, Crotaphytus wislizenii

Cited by 21 publications

References 5 publications

Reproductive Coloration in Female Collared Lizards, Crotophytus Collaris, Stimulates Courtship by Males

Reproductive Coloration in Female Collared Lizards, Crotophytus Collaris, Stimulates Courtship by Males

Male southern water skinks (Eulamprus heatwolei) use both visual and chemical cues to detect female sexual receptivity

Progesterone induces bright orange throat coloration in female Petrosaurus mearnsi

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