Figure 1 : Anticipated cost and benefits of providing dishonest signals of infection in territorial males of contrasting resource holding potential (RHP). High RHP mimics (top left, dark green) are predicted to experience no benefit to territory defense, because they are already physically capable of defending their territories, but are predicted to experience a drop in their ability to attract females, which devalue infected males. Low RHP mimics (top right, light green) are predicted to experience an increase in territory defense, as rivals may avoid infected conspecifics for fear of transmission, but low RHP males suffer little costs in terms of mate attraction, because they are already physically unappealing. In aggregate, the stable frequency of mimics is predicted to be higher among low RHP males than high RHP males for most sets of ecological conditions.