Loss of pigments in females is associated with sexual dichromatism in an ornamental trait

Sexual dichromatism is thought to evolve primarily as a function of sexual selection, especially female choice. However other forces, from sex-specific environmental conditions to social signaling in females, can also generate color differences between sexes. We studied dewlap dichromatism across 292 species of Anolis lizards. Dewlaps are colorful throat ornaments found on males of most anole species but are also present in females in many species. Although male and female dewlaps often have similar coloration, in some species they are strikingly dichromatic. We found that ornament color is labile and that dichromatism results from the loss of costly pigments in females. This pattern could indicate a shift towards signal loss in females; however, the secondary gains of female dewlaps across the phylogeny suggest a potential advantageous function. Possible mechanisms for female dewlap coloration include social selection, non-sexual signaling, or detectability in different microhabitats (..., , # Loss of pigments in females is associated with sexual dichromatism in an ornamental trait

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.05qfttfds](10.5061/dryad.05qfttfds)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data relating to Westeen et al. Loss of pigmentation in females is associated with sexual dichromatism in an ornamental trait. Dewlap data for all species of anoles collected for this study (N = 339). Cells were left blank if values were not determined.

### Files and variables

#### File: data.csv

**Description:** 

##### Variables

* Genus = genus

- Species = species

* Fauna = anole fauna to which the species belongs: GA = Greater Antillean, Dactyloa, and Draconura

- mSVL = male snout-vent length in mm

* fSVL = female snout-vent length in mm

- SSD = sexual size dimorphism as ((male SVL /female SVL)-1)

* mDewlap = male dewlap state: no, rudimentary, yes

- fDewlap = female dewlap state: no, rudimentary, yes

* mColor: colors present in male dewlap, categorical

- mCarot: male d...,