Male mating preference for unfamiliar females in the lizard, Anolis sagrei

Abstract

Male mate choice was studied in the lizard Anolis sagrei to determine whether the degree of familiarity males have with females affects their choice of mating partners. Males that were housed individually with a single female for 16 days and then on day 17 housed with an additional female they had never observed mated significantly more frequently during a 12-h test period with the female they had not previously observed. This mating preference for unfamiliar females could not be explained by differences in body size or reproductive condition of familiar and unfamiliar females as these did not differ significantly. Moreover, this male mating preference could not be explained by initial differences in sexual receptivity of the familiar and unfamiliar females because both categories of females showed no significant difference in mating frequency on the day prior to mating preference tests. These results suggest that male A. sagrei are able to discriminate between a familiar and an unfamiliar female and that they mate preferentially with the unfamiliar female under laboratory conditions.