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Sexual Selection and Dynamics of Jaw Muscle in Tupinambis Lizards

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Abstract

Sexual dimorphism patterns provide an opportunity to increase our understanding of trait evolution. Because selective forces may vary throughout the reproductive period, measuring dimorphism seasonally may be an interesting approach. An increased male head size may be important in intersexual and intrasexual interactions. In Tupinambis lizards, a big head is attributed in part to a large adductor muscle mass. Competition for mating can differ in species with different sex ratio and different degrees of sexual size dimorphism. We examined sexual differences in mass of the pterygoideus muscle, its temporal variation throughout the reproductive period and the relationship between muscle and reproductive condition in Tupinambis merianae and T. rufescens. We characterized sexual size dimorphism and sex ratio in both species. Mature males had larger jaw muscles than mature females in both species, mainly during the reproductive season. The dimorphism in jaw muscle was due to an increase in muscle mass in sexually active males. Seasonal increases in muscle mass and variation between immature and mature individuals suggest that the jaw muscle might be a secondary sexual character. We propose that the pterygoideus muscle may act as a signal of reproductive condition of males because it is associated with testis size and sperm presence. The patterns of sexual dimorphism in jaw muscle in both species were similar; however, the comparison shows how sexual characters remain dimorphic in different competition contexts and in species with different degrees of body size dimorphism. Our results suggest that jaw muscle as sexual character could be influenced by inter- and intrasexual selective pressures.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to rural people from the study area for their invaluable assistance in the field, especially Carlos Beck of Villa del Rosario, Cordoba. This study was funded by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (FONCyT), MinCyT Córdoba -Préstamo BID-PID No. 013/2009, Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnología (SeCyT) and Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. SN and CB are students of the Biological Doctorate of the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba and fellowship holders of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). GC is a researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). MCH is Professor and senior scientist of the National University of Cordoba. The authors thank anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on previous versions of the manuscript.

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  1. Laboratorio de Biología del Comportamiento, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal IDEA (CONICET-UNC), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Vélez Sársfield 299, CP X5000JJC, Córdoba, Argentina

    Sergio Naretto, Gabriela Cardozo, Cecilia S. Blengini & Margarita Chiaraviglio

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  1. Sergio Naretto
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  2. Gabriela Cardozo
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Naretto, S., Cardozo, G., Blengini, C.S. et al. Sexual Selection and Dynamics of Jaw Muscle in Tupinambis Lizards. Evol Biol 41, 192–200 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-013-9257-0

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