DO FEMALE TREE LIZARDS, UROSAURUS-ORNATUS, EXHIBIT MATE CHOICE

Male Urosaurus ornatus have polychromatic dewlaps in many populations which have been suggested to be reliable and honest indicators of figh ting ability and status. Males with an orange-green dewlap tend to dom inate males with an orange dewlap in short-term encounters. Thus, fema les conceivably could gain access to 'high quality' dominant males by using this secondary sexual character as the basis for mate preference , preferring males with an orange-green dewlap to those with an orange dewlap To test this hypothesis, individual females were sequentially presented with pairs of size-matched males which differed in dewlap co lor during each of two field seasons. Of the nineteen females tested, five exhibited a significant preference for a particular color morph. Of these, four preferred orange-green males while one preferred orange males. This finding was not significant We discuss these results in l ight of recent studies on the role of dewlap coloration in male-male c ompetition and possible reasons, both biological and experimental, for the lack of positive female choice in this species.