Abstract

BUSTOS ZAGAL, María Guadalupe; CASTRO-FRANCO, Rubén; MANJARREZ S, Javier  and  FAJARDO GUADARRAMA, Víctor. Morphological variation associated to color patterns of the throat in lizards Sceloporus horridus horridus (Sauria: Phrynosomatidae). Acta Zool. Mex [online]. 2014, vol.30, n.2, pp.357-368. ISSN 2448-8445.

Sexual dimorphism is a common phenomenon in lizards of the genus Sceloporus, this allows to identify differences in body size, and morphological design between males and females. Usually a variation occurs in color dissociated from the morphology. Using one-way ANOVA and discriminant analysis, we obtained significant differences in six morphological traits correlated with throat color, allowing the recognition of three different phenotypes (yellow, blue and orange). However, we did not observe differences in microhabitat use. Males with blue throat (44.35%) were the largest and the most robust, and have a similar abundance as males with yellow throat (48.5%). Males with orange throats only represented 8% of the total. We suggest that males' selection mechanisms by females and the opportunities for copulation, by the three morphs, can induce changes in reproductive investment between locations. We suggest that morphological characteristics are an important factor to consider in studies on reproductive investment of species.

Keywords : Coloration; morphology; males; Sceloporus horridus.

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