Pterin-based ornamental coloration predicts yolk antioxidant levels in female striped plateau lizards (Sceloporus virgatus).

Abstract excerpt

1. Maternal investment in egg quality can have important consequences for offspring fitness. For example, yolk antioxidants can affect embryonic development as well as juvenile and adult phenotype. Thus, females may be selected to advertise their yolk antioxidant deposition to discriminatory males via ornamental signals, perhaps depending on the reproductive costs associated with signal production. 2. Female...

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