Data from: Temperature shapes the costs, benefits, and geographic diversification of sexual coloration in a dragonfly

The environment shapes the evolution of secondary sexual traits by
determining how their costs and benefits vary across the landscape. Given
the thermal properties of dark coloration generally, temperature should
crucially influence the costs, benefits, and geographic diversification of
many secondary sexual color patterns. We tested this hypothesis using
sexually selected wing coloration in a dragonfly. We find that greater
wing coloration heats males—the magnitude of which improves flight
performance under cool conditions but dramatically reduces it under warm
conditions. In a colder region of the species’ range, behavioral
observations of a wild population show that these thermal effects
translate into greater territorial acquisition on thermally variable days.
Finally, geo-referenced photographs taken by citizen scientists reveal
that this sexually selected wing coloration is dramatically reduced in the
hottest portions of the species’ range. Collectively, our results
underscore temperature’s capacity to promote and constrain the evolution
of sexual coloration.