Male mate choice based on female coloration in a lizard: the role of a juvenile trait

In many animals, females choose males for mating in relation to their conspicuous coloration, but males can also select females by display traits. In a lizard species in which females show red tail coloration during the mating season, tail color was experimentally manipulated and males preferred red versus white adult females for courtship. Red coloration makes females more sexually attractive in this lizard species, possibly because it indicates sexual maturity and a pre-ovulatory reproductive status.