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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Disentangling composite colour patterns in a poison frog species

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A phylogenetic approach was performed to infer whether variation in conspicuous colour-patterns of a poison frog (Dendrobatidae: Dendrobates tinctorius) has evolved neutrally or under selection. Colour and pattern were split into components that were separately analysed and subsequently re-grouped via principal component analysis. This revealed four different ‘displayed’ factors on the dorsal and lateral views versus one ‘concealed’ factor on the ventral view. Based on the assumption that current patterns of trait variation contain information about the evolutionary history of the phenotype, we correlated these trait components to a neutrally evolving gene fragment (cytochrome b). The concealed factor was significantly correlated with the marker fragment, which identified it as having evolved under genetic drift. Noncorrelation of all displayed factors with the marker may indicate the evolution of colour patterns on dorsum and flanks under selection. In our example, colour pattern should therefore be regarded as a multicomponent signal system. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 93, 433–444.