Dynamic colour change in Psammophilus dorsalis: role of natural and sexual selection

Abstract

Overall, the results from this study support the idea that animal signals arise from a balance between increased conspicuousness for social signalling and inconspicuousness to avoid predation risk. Animals that can change colour provide a unique opportunity to examine the trade-offs between different evolutionary forces. I conclude that colour change may have evolved in P. dorsalis as an evolutionary solution to actively balance the costs of predation risk with the benefits of sexual signalling. The work from this thesis provides novel insights about the function and evolution of physiological colour change in a terrestrial system and is an important contribution to the understanding of visually complex signals in general