--- _id: '14850' abstract: - lang: eng text: Elaborate sexual signals are thought to have evolved and be maintained to serve as honest indicators of signaller quality. One measure of quality is health, which can be affected by parasite infection. Cnemaspis mysoriensis is a diurnal gecko that is often infested with ectoparasites in the wild, and males of this species express visual (coloured gular patches) and chemical (femoral gland secretions) traits that receivers could assess during social interactions. In this paper, we tested whether ectoparasites affect individual health, and whether signal quality is an indicator of ectoparasite levels. In wild lizards, we found that ectoparasite level was negatively correlated with body condition in both sexes. Moreover, some characteristics of both visual and chemical traits in males were strongly associated with ectoparasite levels. Specifically, males with higher ectoparasite levels had yellow gular patches with lower brightness and chroma, and chemical secretions with a lower proportion of aromatic compounds. We then determined whether ectoparasite levels in males influence female behaviour. Using sequential choice trials, wherein females were provided with either the visual or the chemical signals of wild-caught males that varied in ectoparasite level, we found that only chemical secretions evoked an elevated female response towards less parasitised males. Simultaneous choice trials in which females were exposed to the chemical secretions from males that varied in parasite level further confirmed a preference for males with lower parasites loads. Overall, we find that although health (body condition) or ectoparasite load can be honestly advertised through multiple modalities, the parasite-mediated female response is exclusively driven by chemical signals. acknowledgement: "We thank Anuradha Batabyal and Shakilur Kabir for scientific discussions, and help with sampling and colour analyses. We thank Muralidhar and the central LCMS facility of the IISc for their technical support with the GCMS.\r\nResearch funding was provided by the Department of Science and Technology Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (DST-FIST), the Department of Biotechnology-Indian Institute of Science (DBT-IISc) partnership program and a Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) grant to M.T. (EMR/2017/002228). Open Access funding provided by Indian Institute of Science. Deposited in PMC for immediate release." article_number: jeb246217 article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal) article_type: original author: - first_name: Arka full_name: Pal, Arka id: 6AAB2240-CA9A-11E9-9C1A-D9D1E5697425 last_name: Pal orcid: 0000-0002-4530-8469 - first_name: Mihir full_name: Joshi, Mihir last_name: Joshi - first_name: Maria full_name: Thaker, Maria last_name: Thaker citation: ama: Pal A, Joshi M, Thaker M. Too much information? Males convey parasite levels using more signal modalities than females utilise. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2024;227(1). doi:10.1242/jeb.246217 apa: Pal, A., Joshi, M., & Thaker, M. (2024). Too much information? Males convey parasite levels using more signal modalities than females utilise. Journal of Experimental Biology. The Company of Biologists. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246217 chicago: Pal, Arka, Mihir Joshi, and Maria Thaker. “Too Much Information? Males Convey Parasite Levels Using More Signal Modalities than Females Utilise.” Journal of Experimental Biology. The Company of Biologists, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246217. ieee: A. Pal, M. Joshi, and M. Thaker, “Too much information? Males convey parasite levels using more signal modalities than females utilise,” Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 227, no. 1. The Company of Biologists, 2024. ista: Pal A, Joshi M, Thaker M. 2024. Too much information? Males convey parasite levels using more signal modalities than females utilise. Journal of Experimental Biology. 227(1), jeb246217. mla: Pal, Arka, et al. “Too Much Information? Males Convey Parasite Levels Using More Signal Modalities than Females Utilise.” Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 227, no. 1, jeb246217, The Company of Biologists, 2024, doi:10.1242/jeb.246217. short: A. Pal, M. Joshi, M. Thaker, Journal of Experimental Biology 227 (2024). corr_author: '1' date_created: 2024-01-22T08:14:49Z date_published: 2024-01-10T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2025-09-04T11:50:21Z day: '10' ddc: - '570' department: - _id: NiBa doi: 10.1242/jeb.246217 external_id: isi: - '001214515700016' pmid: - '38054353' file: - access_level: open_access checksum: 136325372f6f45abaa62a71e2d23bfb6 content_type: application/pdf creator: dernst date_created: 2024-01-23T12:08:24Z date_updated: 2024-01-23T12:08:24Z file_id: '14877' file_name: 2024_JourExperimBiology_Pal.pdf file_size: 594128 relation: main_file success: 1 file_date_updated: 2024-01-23T12:08:24Z has_accepted_license: '1' intvolume: ' 227' isi: 1 issue: '1' keyword: - Insect Science - Molecular Biology - Animal Science and Zoology - Aquatic Science - Physiology - Ecology - Evolution - Behavior and Systematics language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ month: '01' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version pmid: 1 publication: Journal of Experimental Biology publication_identifier: eissn: - 0022-0949 issn: - 1477-9145 publication_status: published publisher: The Company of Biologists quality_controlled: '1' related_material: link: - relation: software url: https://github.com/arka-pal/Cnemaspis-SexualSignaling scopus_import: '1' status: public title: Too much information? Males convey parasite levels using more signal modalities than females utilise tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: journal_article user_id: 317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345 volume: 227 year: '2024' ...