Simple signaling games of sexual selection (Grafen's revisited).

We investigate several versions of a simple game of sexual selection, to explore the role of secondary sexual characters (the "handicap paradox") with the tools of signaling theory. Our models admit closed form solutions. They are very much inspired by Grafen's (J Theor Biol 144:517-546, 1990a; J Theor Biol 144:473-516, 1990b) seminal companion papers. By merging and simplifying his two approaches, we identify a not so minor artifact in the seminal study. We propose an alternative model to start with Grafen's sexual selection theory, with several similarities with Getty (Anim Behav 56:127-130, 1998).