TERRITORIALITY IN LAKE-EYRE DRAGONS CTENOPHORUS-MACULOSUS - ARE MALESSUPERTERRITORIAL

The Australian Lake Eyre dragon, Ctenophorus maculosus, lives on dry s alt lakes in the Australian interior. An unusual characteristic of thi s habitat is that windblown insects are the major food resource, which makes it impossible for males to defend sire-related resources. Male territory size is not correlated to male size; thus, males do not seem to defend trophic territories in relation to their own energy demands . Instead, males with higher densities of lookout sires have larger te rritories, and males with larger territories have more mates. In conse quence, males primarily seem to guard sexual resources on territories that are not economically defensible from a trophic point of view; mal es appear to conform to the concept of 'superterritoriality' (sensu ST AMPS 1983).