Caught in the Act: Anole Sex and Post-coital Behavior

Anole Annals has certainly had its share of posts about anole sex (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4).  Today I’m posting another photo of anoles having sex along with a rare shot of the immediate aftermath.  As you can see in the photo on the right of a pair of Anolis chlorocyanus from the Dominican Republic, the male’s hemipenis generally remains exposed for a few a seconds after mating.  During this time, the male tends to walks awkwardly away from the female while raising his pelvis off the substrate to get his junk in order.

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3 Comments

  1. Jonathan Losos

    Some further information might be useful for those unfamiliar with the wondrous anatomy of lizards. Specifically, I refer to the male parts, which differ from those of mammals like ourselves. Put simply, squamates (lizards and snakes) have two intromittent organs/penises/peckers (take your choice of terminology), the only such example among vertebrates. Hemipenes are outgrowths of the wall of the cloaca (the back end of the lizard through which everything comes out) that are stored in the base of the tail (the term “hemipenis”—literally, half a penis—is a misnomer from the 18th Century). They don’t function like mammalian penises. Rather, they are stored in the tail inside out, like a glove pulled off a hand. They have their own muscles that evert them for use, and there is a groove on the outside down which the sperm flows. A picture of anole hemipenes can be found here.
    In terms of how they are used, males only use one hemipenis at a time. To mate, the male swings its tail over the females to bring their cloacae into juxtaposition. The male then everts the hemipenis on the appropriate side. Detailed studies on A. sagrei demonstrate that males tend to alternate which hemipenis they use. Moreover, if males are prevented from using one hemipenis by sealing that side of the cloaca with duct tape (as was done in one study), the male risks running out of sperm—each testis is connected to its own hemipenis.

  2. “Hemipenes are outgrowths of the wall of the cloaca” – Is this a developmental observation or simply an description of their anatomical origin? Do you have a reference for this?

  3. Jean-Michel D

    Très cool photos! Any others to share?

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