DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ph8s1
title: Data from: Masculinized females produce heavier offspring in a group living rodent

description: Alternative morphotypes have been reported less frequently in females than
 in males. An exception to this rule is the gradient of phenotypical
 masculinization reported in some female mammals, in which feminized and
 masculinized females represent two opposite ends along this gradient.
 These phenotypical differences originate during prenatal development as
 the consequence of maternal effects. Feminized and masculinized females
 differ in several traits, including morphological, physiological,
 behavioural and reproductive traits. Differences previously reported in
 reproductive traits between feminized and masculinized females come mostly
 from mechanistic studies performed in the laboratory, and not necessarily
 on social species. As a result, it is unclear to what extent these
 reported differences between female alternative morphotypes materialize in
 wild, natural populations. We quantified the effect of female alternative
 morphotype on female reproductive traits in a natural population of
 Octodon degus, a highly social rodent. We assessed female alternative
 morphotype through a continuous gradient of anogenital distance. Thus,
 feminized females were close to the short end of anogenital distance,
 while masculinized females were close to the long end of this gradient. We
 also tested the hypothesis that the social environment interacts with
 female morphotype to influence female reproductive traits. In female
 degus, only body weight affected litter size, where heavier females weaned
 more offspring. Masculinized females delivered male-biased litters and
 weaned heavier offspring. Lastly, masculinized females gave birth later in
 the breeding season compared to feminized females. Contrary to previous
 claims, our findings do not support that masculinized females are less
 fertile than feminized females. Moreover, masculinized females produced
 heavier, potentially higher quality offspring compared with feminized
 females.
description: DATA 1. Litter size and
 Male offspring proportiondata 1 file, contains,
 data for model 1 and model 2 analyses. This data include litetr size and
 offspring male proportion in litter as response variable and Year, Female
 ID, Female Age (years), Female mean body weight during the lactation
 period, Female Anogenital distance, Social Group ID, Female number in
 group and Mean group anogenital distance.DATA 2. Offspring body
 weight at weaning (65 days)Data 2 files, contain
 data about the offspring body weight at weaning analyses. In these data,
 offspring bidy weight at weaning was the response variable and predictors
 variables were: year, mother ID,mother anogenital distance, Mother mean
 body weight during lactation period,Litter size, Social Group ID, Female
 number, Mean group anogenital distance, offsrping sex and offspring
 ID.DATA 3. Date of
 parturitionData 3. this data file,
 contains data of date of parturition. dairy rank of parturion was the
 response variable, and Year, Female ID, female Anogenital Distance, Real
 date of parturition, Litter size and male offspring proportion in
 litterwere the independient variables.