Dance or disappear: Strategic sexual signalling in female Peninsular rock agama

Sexual signalling has traditionally been studied in the context of male competition and female mate choice, with female signalling considered of limited consequence. However, there is growing evidence of extensive sexual signalling in females in a wide range of taxa. Here, we test how females strategize the use of sexual signals in a socially polygynous lizard, Psammophilus dorsalis. We evaluated key hypotheses for how females should modulate their signalling, focussing on male quality, mate availability and stage of the breeding season. We simulate male quality using artificial male models to individually tagged, and intensely monitored wild female lizards, measuring their strategic investment in sexual signalling. We found that females invest more in signalling towards high quality males and increased their investment towards the later part of the only breeding season. We demonstrate that, contrary to typical expectations in polygynous systems, females invest in costly sexual signals ..., Data collection
 
To assess hypotheses for variation in sexual signalling in females, a field experiment was conducted. Male models of different colour states, representing two levels of male quality, were presented to tagged females on their territories.  Regular monitoring of the study population provided information on mate availability.
 
Model presentation experiment
 
Female signalling responses to potential mates were assessed through field experiments on individually tagged females. 3D printed models mimicking male lizards were painted in two different colour states chosen to represent male quality: yellow (low), and bright orange (high). Female lizards were presented with these models at different times during their breeding lifespan. During each trial, the behaviour of the female before and after the presentation of a model was recorded on a video camera mounted on a tripod. The video camera was placed at a distance of at least 15 metres from the focal liza..., , # Dance or disappear: Strategic sexual signalling in female Peninsular rock agama

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25mk](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25mk)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: behaviour\_data\_Procb.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* lizard.id: Unique ID of lizard  
* bead.code: Unique bead code for each lizard (Character that describes the colour of ceramic beads, example WWB mean white,white, blue in the order)
* date: Date (%%dd%%mm%%yyyy)
* model.id: Two colour states were presented - Orange and Yellow (denoted as ORM and YLM)
* prop.redhead: Proportion of time spent in red-head colour state ;Range: 0 to 1 (Time spent in behavioural state/Total observation time)
* prop.crouchposture: Proportion of time spent in crouch posture ;Range: 0 to 1(Time spent in behavioural state/Total observation time)
* prop.tailraise: Proportion of time spent in tail raise posture ;Range: 0 to 1(Time spent in behavioural st...