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Polyandry in dragon lizards: inbred paternal genotypes sire fewer offspring
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Polyandry in dragon lizards: inbred paternal genotypes sire fewer offspring

Celine H Frere, Dani Chandrasoma and Martin J Whiting
Ecology and Evolution, Vol.5(8), pp.1686-1692
2015
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Published VersionCC BY V4.0 Open Access
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https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1447View
Published Version

Abstract

cryptic female choice genetic benefits genotype reconstruction GERUD inbreeding polyandry reptile sexual selection sperm competition
Multiple mating in female animals is something of a paradox because it can either be risky (e.g., higher probability of disease transmission, social costs) or provide substantial fitness benefits (e.g., genetic bet hedging whereby the likeli- hood of reproductive failure is lowered). The genetic relatedness of parental units, particularly in lizards, has rarely been studied in the wild. Here, we examined levels of multiple paternity in Australia's largest agamid lizard, the eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii), and determined whether male reproductive success is best explained by its heterozygosity coefficient or the extent to which it is related to the mother. Female polyandry was the norm: 2/ 22 clutches (9.2%) were sired by three or more fathers, 17/22 (77.2%) were sired by two fathers, and only 3/22 (13.6%) clutches were sired by one father. Moreover, we reconstructed the paternal genotypes for 18 known mother-off- spring clutches and found no evidence that females were favoring less related males or that less related males had higher fitness. However, males with greater heterozygosity sired more offspring. While the postcopulatory mechanisms underlying this pattern are not understood, female water dragons likely repre- sent another example of reproduction through cryptic means (sperm selection/ sperm competition) in a lizard, and through which they may ameliorate the effects of male-driven precopulatory sexual selection.

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