, 2006), bite force (Huyghe et al., 2009), and are used as cues in male and female mate choice in lizards (Bajer et al., 2010), and are often correlated to body condition (Healey & Olsson, 2009). Recent studies on signalling focused on the possibility of several traits acting together to signal an individual’s quality (e.g. Candolin, 2003), with different components often signalling different aspects of the signaller (Badyaev et al., 2001). Females consider multiple male traits

in parallel (Calsbeek & Sinervo, 2002; Lopez, Aragon & Martin, 2003; Hamilton & Sullivan, 2005), even considering their offspring’s survival while making Venetoclax price mating decisions (Lancaster, Hipsley & Sinervo, 2009). However, the fact that a trait represents an important signal in one context, for instance in intrasexual selection, does not necessarily mean that it is also important in another context, for instance in intersexual selection, as well (e.g. Lebas & Marshall, 2001; Lopez, Munoz & Martin, 2002). The European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) is a wide-spread lacertid species in Central MK-1775 molecular weight and Eastern Europe. Males develop a blue nuptial throat patch, which shows high reflectance in the ultraviolet (UV) range (see Bajer et al., 2010).

The role of this male ornament in sexual selection is particularly interesting as both UV and blue colours represent structural colours, hence their developmental costs and the environmental factors Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase influencing them are less straightforward than in the much better studied pigment-based colours (Prum, 2006). UV colour

has been demonstrated to function as an honest signal of weapon size in the collared lizard (Crotaphytus collaris) (Lappin et al., 2006), determine outcome of male contests in the Platysaurus broadleyi (Stapley & Whiting, 2006; Whiting et al., 2006) and affect male mate choice in Ctenophorus ornatus (LeBas & Marshall, 2000). In manipulative experiments, we showed that female L. viridis prefer males with high UV chroma on their throat patch (Bajer et al., 2010) and males with high UV chroma are more successful in male contests (Bajer et al., 2011), hence throat colour of male European green lizards is likely to be under sexual selection and to hold information of male quality. Here we tested the hypotheses that (1) UV colour in male European green lizard is an honest signal, and (2) different components of the throat colour signal different aspects of male quality. Namely, we investigated the relationships between (1) UV chroma, as it affects female mate choice and male competition in the species (Bajer et al.