The evolution of sexual dimorphism in the skink Eumeces laticeps: an example of sexual selection

Abstract

Adults of the skink Eumeces laticeps are sexually dimorphic in coloration, body size, head size, and relative head size. Males have larger heads at a given body size than females and the divergence in relative head size is coincident with the size at which sexual maturity is reached. Although there were no differences between sexes in tail loss frequencies, there were substantial differences in frequencies of body and head scars, a consequence of aggressive male–male interactions. Prey size was correlated with body and head size and males tended to eat larger prey items than females. However, both sexes are capable of eating prey much larger than the mean or maximum size of prey found in stomachs, suggesting that resource partitioning is a consequence of sexual size differences rather than a cause. The heads of males at a given body size increase during the breeding season, and a combination of head and body size apparently determines the outcome of intrasexual aggressive encounters. Moreover, small males were never observed with females during the breeding season, and those males observed "guarding" females were significantly larger than males observed in the absence of females. We conclude that sexual selection accounts for many of the differences in morphological traits between sexes of E. laticeps.