Data for: Ecological contexts shape sexual selection on male color morphs in wood tiger moths

Color polymorphisms in natural populations often reflect the interplay
between various selective pressures, such as natural and sexual selection.
In this study, we investigate the dynamics of sexual selection operating
on color polymorphism in wood tiger moths under different ecological
contexts. Wood tiger moths exhibit polymorphism in male hindwing
coloration, with individuals possessing one or two dominant W alleles
displaying two forms of white coloration that differ in their UV
reflectance (WW, Wy), while those with two recessive y alleles exhibit
yellow coloration (yy). Females carry the color alleles, but do not
express them phenotypically. We performed two mate choice experiments that
simulated two ecological conditions: one with limited morph availability
and low male encounter rates and the other with all morphs present and
high potential for male encounters. We collected data on morph-specific
mating success of the males, mating latency, female rejections along with
fitness measurements of the number of eggs, number of larvae and hatching
success for each mated pair. Our data files contain this information along
other variables used as random effects, such as the dates of the
experiments, replicate numbers and unique IDs of the stock females used in
these experiments. The data is stored as six .csv files along with a
README file containing a more precise description of the variable names
and types. We demonstrate that WW males consistently experience higher
mating success compared to yy males, irrespective of the presence of Wy
males and male encounter rates. Surprisingly, mating with a WW male does
not confer direct reproductive benefits to females in terms of lifetime
reproductive success; instead, Wy females exhibit overall higher
reproductive success regardless of their mating partner. Although the
precise mechanism driving the higher mating success of WW males remains
unclear, a temporal decline in mating success of WW males suggests
potential differences in male mating strategies. Our findings support the
hypothesis that sexual selection contributes to the maintenance of
polymorphism, revealing a stable mating advantage of a particular color
morph that may be offset by other selective forces.