Data from: Continuous variation in an aposematic pattern affects background contrast, but is not associated with differences in microhabitat use

Variation in aposematic signals was once predicted to be rare, yet in
recent years it has become increasingly well-documented. Despite increases
in the frequency with which polytypism and polymorphism have been
suggested to occur, population-wide variance is rarely quantified. We
comprehensively sampled a subpopulation of the poison frog Oophaga
sylvatica, a species which is polytypic across its distribution and also
shows considerable within-population polymorphism. On one hand, color
pattern polymorphism could be the result of multifarious selection acting
to balance different signaling functions and leading to the evolution of
discrete sub-morphs which occupy different fitness peaks. Alternatively,
variance could simply be due to relaxed selection, where variation would
be predicted to be continuous. We used visual modeling of conspecific and
heterospecific observers to quantify the extent of within-population
phenotypic variation and assess whether this variation produced distinct
signals. We found that, despite considerable color pattern variation,
variance could not be partitioned into distinct groups, but rather all
viewers would be likely to perceive variation as continuous. Similarly, we
found no evidence that frog color pattern contrast was either enhanced or
diminished in the frogs’ chosen microhabitats compared to alternative
patches in which conspecifics were observed. Within population phenotypic
variance therefore does not seem to be indicative of strong selection
towards multiple signaling strategies, but rather pattern divergence has
likely arisen due to weak purifying selection, or neutral processes, on a
signal that is highly salient to both conspecifics and predators.