Meeting Abstract

77-5   14:30 - 14:45  Uncovering the ecological and genetic basis of a sexual signal: the dewlap of the Panamanian slender anole (Anolis apletophallus) Pirani, RM*; Curlis, JD; Arias, C; McMilian, O; Cox, C; Logan, ML; University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama; Florida International University, Miami, FL; University of Nevada Reno, Reno, NV renatampirani@gmail.com

Sexual signals are thought to play an important role in speciation and macroevolutionary trends, yet the genetic basis, microevolutionary processes, and agents of selection that shape sexual signal variation are poorly known. Lizards in the genus Anolis have an extendible throat fan called a dewlap which they use for intra and inter-specific signaling, although debate continues over the precise agents of selection that drive dewlap evolution. One major hypothesis is that dewlap coloration should be associated with the light environment in such a way that signal transmission is optimized, namely, that dark colored dewlaps should evolve in bright environments whereas light colored dewlaps should evolve in darker environments. We studied the Panamanian slender anole (Anolis apletophallus) which has a dewlap polymorphism; males either have a solid orange dewlap (solid morph) or a white dewlap with an orange spot (bicolor morph). Further, the frequencies of these morphs change continuously across space. First, we examined the relationship between light environment and morph frequency in a single mainland population of the slender anole that was distributed across a canopy cover gradient. Next, we investigated the genetic basis of this polymorphism by assembling the full slender anole genome which we then used as a reference for a pooled population sequencing (Pool-Seq) approach to identify the genomic region underlying this dewlap polymorphism. These data will form the basis for a transplant experiment aimed at identifying the specific agents of selection that maintain this polymorphism in nature.