Bonnaffé, Willem, Martin, Mélissa, Mugabo, Marianne, Meylan, Sandrine, Le Galliard, Jean‐François, Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (IEES (UMR_7618 / UMR_D_242 / UMR_A_1392 / UM_113) ), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Ecologie et évolution, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), CEREEP-Ecotron Ile de France (UMS 3194), Département de Biologie - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris (iEES Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL), Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Sorbonne Université (SU), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département de Biologie - ENS Paris, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS Paris), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Region Ile de France programme R2DS, Grant/Award Number: Grant 2007-6, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Grant/Award Number: Grant 07-JCJC-0120, PSL Research University (PSL), University of Leeds, École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), and Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
International audience; The understanding of developmental patterns of body coloration is challenging because of the multicomponent nature of color signals and the multiple selective pressures acting upon them, which further depend on the sex of the bearer and area of display. Pigmentary colors are thought to be strongly involved in sexual selection, while structural colors are thought to generally associate with conspecifics interactions and improve the discrimination of pigmentary colors. Yet, it remains unclear whether age dependency in each color component is consistent with their potential function. Here, we address lifelong ontogenetic variation in three color components (i.e. UV, pigmentary, and skin background colors) in a birth cohort of common lizards Zootoca vivipara across three ventral body regions (i.e. throat, chest, and belly). All three color components developed sexual dichromatism, with males displaying stronger pigmentary and UV colors but weaker skin background coloration than females. The development of color components led to a stronger sexual dichromatism on the concealed ventral region than on the throat. No consistent signs of late‐life decay in color components were found except for a deceleration of UV reflectance increase with age on the throat of males. These results suggest that body color components in common lizards are primarily nonsenescent sexual signals, but that the balance between natural and sexual selection may be altered by the conspicuousness of the area of display. These results further support the view that skin coloration is a composite trait constituted of multiple color components conveying multiple signals depending on age, sex, and body location.