Male scent-marks predict fitness via socio-spatial dominance, but not female choice, in a lacertid lizard
4 affiliations
- 1Ethology, Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
- 2School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
- 3CNRS, Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale, Moulis, Ariège, France
- 4Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Abstract
Chemical communication via scent-marks is widely recognized as a key mediator of sexual selection in lizards, yet it remains poorly understood how scent-mark composition ultimately impacts male fitness in nature. Male scent-marks are often proposed to function as condition-dependent honest sexual signals mediating female choice, but an alternative hypothesis is that they primarily function and have evolved in the context of male–male competition. We provide a comprehensive test of these competing hypotheses. We studied common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) in outdoor enclosures and combined chemical analyses of scent-marks with detailed behavioural and spatial data, genetic parentage assignment and path analysis to quantify how scent-mark composition relates to mating behaviour, contest outcomes, sperm competition and male reproductive success. We found no evidence that females assess mates based on candidate compounds proposed as signals of male quality. Instead, female settlement and fertilization patterns were driven by resource distribution and spatial proximity. Furthermore, several compounds correlated with dominance, and male–male competition emerged as the primary driver of reproductive success, strongly suggesting that scent-marks mediate territorial dynamics, rather than female choice.
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BibTeX
@article{abalos2026male,
title = {{Male scent-marks predict fitness via socio-spatial dominance, but not female choice, in a lacertid lizard}},
author = {Javier Abalos and Alicia Bartolomé and Guillem Pérez i de Lanuza and Fabien Aubret and Tobias Uller and Pau Carazo and Enrique Font and Roberto García-Roa},
journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1098/rspb.2026.0863},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13730803},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Male scent-marks predict fitness via socio-spatial dominance, but not female choice, in a lacertid lizard
AU - Javier Abalos
AU - Alicia Bartolomé
AU - Guillem Pérez i de Lanuza
AU - Fabien Aubret
AU - Tobias Uller
AU - Pau Carazo
AU - Enrique Font
AU - Roberto García-Roa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - Proceedings. Biological sciences
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2026.0863
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13730803
AB - Chemical communication via scent-marks is widely recognized as a key mediator of sexual selection in lizards, yet it remains poorly understood how scent-mark composition ultimately impacts male fitness in nature. Male scent-marks are often proposed to function as condition-dependent honest sexual signals mediating female choice, but an alternative hypothesis is that they primarily function and have evolved in the context of male–male competition. We provide a comprehensive test of these competing hypotheses. We studied common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) in outdoor enclosures and combined chemical analyses of scent-marks with detailed behavioural and spatial data, genetic parentage assignment and path analysis to quantify how scent-mark composition relates to mating behaviour, contest outcomes, sperm competition and male reproductive success. We found no evidence that females assess mates based on candidate compounds proposed as signals of male quality. Instead, female settlement and fertilization patterns were driven by resource distribution and spatial proximity. Furthermore, several compounds correlated with dominance, and male–male competition emerged as the primary driver of reproductive success, strongly suggesting that scent-marks mediate territorial dynamics, rather than female choice.
SN - 0962-8452
SN - 1471-2954
ER -