A dual status-signalling system: a matter of redundancy or differing roles?

Males in tree lizards, Urosaurus ornatus, with blue or green throat dominate in polymorphic populations more than those with less blue/green and more orange throats. Experiments in semi-natural outdoor conditions, however, show it is the dorsal darkening of the males that suggests the dominance status. Thus, the hypothesis that throat signal takes precedence over dorsal signal when throat coloration is different among males is wrong. In monomorphic species, too, a higher dominance is symbolized by dorsal-darkening.