Editing Side-blotched lizard (section)

==Sex==
Side-blotched lizards are notable for having the highest number of distinct male and female morphs within a species:  three male and two female. They show a diversity of behaviors associated with reproduction, which are often referred to as "alternative reproductive tactics".<ref name= "Taborsky & Brockman">Taborsky,M  & Brockmann HJ (2010) Alternative reproductive tactics and life history phenotypes. pp 537-586, In P. Kappeler, Ed. Animal Behaviour: Evolution and Mechanisms. Springer Berlin Heidelberg</ref>

Orange-throated males are "ultra-dominant, high [[testosterone]]", that establish large territories and control areas that contain multiple females.  Yellow stripe-throated males ("sneakers") do not defend a territory, but cluster on the fringes of orange-throated lizard territories, and mate with the females on those territories while the orange-throat is absent, as the territory to defend is large.  Blue-throated males are less aggressive and guard only one female; they can fend off the yellow stripe-throated males, but cannot withstand attacks by orange-throated males.

Orange-throated females lay many small eggs and are very territorial.  Yellow-throated females lay fewer, larger eggs, and are more tolerant of each other.<ref name="roughgarden">Roughgarden, Joan (2004). ''Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-24073-1}} Especially chapter 6, ''Multiple Gender Families'', pp. 90-93.</ref>

This is called the [[rock paper scissors]] effect,<ref>Sinervo, B & Lively C.M. (1996) The rock-scissors-paper game and the evolution of alternative male strategies.  Nature 340: 240-246</ref> borrowed from the name of the playground game, because the outcome of the mating success shows that one morph of the lizard takes advantage over another but not over the third.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Perspectives on Animal Behaviour|last = Goodenough|first = J|year = 2010|pages = 70}}</ref>

The orange and blue-throated males can sometimes be seen approaching a human "intruder". One speculation is that he could be giving the female(s) a chance to escape, but whether he is defending the female has not been documented. Another speculation is that he is highly motivated to engage whenever he sees movement on his territory, which he may be interpreting as a possible intruding male, or another female.