Female preference for male dorsal crests in great crested newts (<i>Triturus cristatus</i>)

Malmgren, Jan C.; Enghag, M.

doi:10.1080/08927014.2008.9522545

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, when body size was removed from the model, heterozygosity significantly affected crest height, suggesting that crest size can be used by females as a cue to this aspect of male genetic quality. Previous research has shown that although male size affects mating success in crested newts, the maximal height of the male's crest is more important (Hedlund, ; Malmgren & Enghag, ). A possible reason for this preference is that crest size is easier for females to assess than body size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retracted: Heterozygosity, sexual ornament and body size in the crested newt

et al. 2013

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Both genome‐wide heterozygosity and heterozygosity at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are often associated with higher fitness. Recent theoretical work indicates that sexual ornaments may reveal information about individual heterozygosity, and that preference for such ornaments may benefit females via the increased heterozygosity of their progeny. Here, we used path analysis to investigate the direct and indirect (via body size used as an index of condition) effects of heterozygosity at six microsatellite loci and the MHC class II DAB gene on the size of a sexual ornament, the crest, in the crested newt Triturus cristatus. We found that microsatellite heterozygosity, but not MHC heterozygosity, significantly predicted male body size, and that male body size significantly predicted crest height. However, there was no direct effect of MHC or microsatellite heterozygosity on crest height. Furthermore, microsatellite heterozygosity significantly increased with age, indicating that it had a positive effect on survival. Overall, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that heterozygosity determines condition, and that variation in condition is expressed as variation in sexual ornamentation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retracted: Heterozygosity, sexual ornament and body size in the crested newt

et al. 2013

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“…Indeed, an irregular crest form comes from a regular shape whose peaks have welded during the development of the crest. As crest size plays an important role in the female's decision (Malmgren & Enghag, ), we assume that an irregular shape is more attractive to females. Moreover, the crest is assumed to play a role in the guidance towards the female of currents, waves and vibrations created by the tail when fanning (Green, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We chose crested newts ( Triturus cristatus ), whose ornaments are highly developed and synthesized de novo for each breeding season, thus suspected of reflecting the current condition of the phenotype (Baker, ). Furthermore, the importance of the crest during breeding in the decision‐making of females has been shown (Malmgren & Enghag, ). A newt's lifespan is around 5–6 years in the population studied, with a maximum longevity of 10 years (unpubl.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age, courtship and senescence: sexual ornaments are larger in older great crested newts

2018

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Patterns of senescence are highly diverse and the underlying mechanisms are controversial. Most studies have focused on endothermic tetrapods, who usually exhibit both actuarial (e.g. the increase in mortality rate with age) and reproductive senescence. However, senescence patterns are less clear in ectothermic vertebrates since these animals exhibit undetermined growth and often increase their reproductive potential throughout their life history. We contribute to this topic by investigating the relationship between age and relative size of sexual ornaments in a urodele amphibian, the great crested newt, Triturus cristatus. We found that the relative sizes of sexual ornaments (crest height, crest area, area of the white caudal spot) were correlated with an individual's age in a population monitored in the wild. These sexual ornaments constitute honest signals reflecting male quality. Thus, the crested newt appeared to undergo negligible reproductive senescence in our population, although further experiments on reproductive success are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

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“…Morphological male traits that appear to have a sexual function are the hind foot web, a caudal filament, and a low dorsal caudal crest. In the crested newt Triturus cristatus and the smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris, females prefer males with high crests (Hedlund 1990a;Green 1991;Gabor and Halliday 1997;Malmgren and Enghag 2008). In the palmate newt, Haerty et al (2007) investigated female visual preference for filament length and body size and found that females spent more time close to males with longer filaments and smaller bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Multiple signals in the palmate newt: ornaments help when courting

Cornuau

Rat

Schmeller

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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There is increasing evidence that female mate choice is often based on the assessment of multiple male traits, involving both morphology and behavior. We investigated female mate choice for multiple male traits in the palmate newt, Lissotriton helveticus, including male tail filament length, hind foot web size, crest development, body size, ventral coloration, and courtship display activity. Observations of courtship display in the field revealed that females spent more time in front of males with longer tail filaments. Laboratory experiments revealed a more detailed relationship between filament length and courtship display. We found that females took more sperm masses from males with both longer filaments and greater display activity. Experimental shortening of the tail filament length substantially decreased the number of male sperm masses transferred. However, when we experimentally reversed relative filament length between two males in mating trials, male mating success was explained by courtship activity and not by filament length. Our results show that female palmate newts value multiple traits during mate choice, including both morphological ornaments and reproductive behaviors in males. Our results further suggest that, when filament length is below a certain threshold, females may value the information content of courtship activity over that of filament length.

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Female preference for male dorsal crests in great crested newts (Triturus cristatus)

Cited by 13 publications

References 22 publications

Retracted: Heterozygosity, sexual ornament and body size in the crested newt

Retracted: Heterozygosity, sexual ornament and body size in the crested newt

Age, courtship and senescence: sexual ornaments are larger in older great crested newts

Multiple signals in the palmate newt: ornaments help when courting

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