For those of us that study embryonic and juvenile development this is an exciting time. The first anole eggs of the season are here!
The prize for first egg of the season goes to Anolis distichus. Fifteen females were collected in Miami one week ago ago and I collected 11 eggs from their cages yesterday. A. carolinensis, A. sagrei, and A. cristatellus seem to be off to a slower start. Of the 12 A. sagrei females collected I only found two eggs while the other species have yet to produce any. My fingers are crossed that egg production picks up soon.
Is anyone else out there having any early season luck? Which species? Are people in the field observing regular mating behaviors now?
Thom Sanger is an Assistant Professor at Loyola University in Chicago. His lab specializes on understanding the developmental bases of Anolis lizard diversity.
Latest posts by Thomas Sanger (see all)
- Short Faces, Two Faces, No Faces: Lizards Heads Are Susceptible to Embryonic Thermal Stress - December 15, 2021
- The Super Sticky Super Power of Lizards: a New Outreach Activity for Grade-Schoolers - April 9, 2018
- Updates on the Development of Anolis as a “Model Clade” of Integrative Analyses of Anatomical Evolution - September 4, 2017
Pat Shipman
On Little Cayman, there were quite a few very young A. sagrei two-three weeks ago. Tiny little snub-nosed ones! And the male-male interaction which I reported was probably related to upcoming or ongoing mating behavior among A. maynardi.
Rich Glor
We’ve been getting sporadic eggs from our captive born distichus lately, but they’re mostly infertile.
Bill Bateman
Sagrei laid eggs 3 days in ago in the lab – not fertile though
Armando Pou
I have found that Anolis distichus in Miami starts laying earlier and lays more often during the season that either of the other two common Anolis here. Their numbers and range have increased rapidly through areas where mature trees are common. Although they outnumber A. porcatus/carolinensis where the two overlap, porcatus seems to be the dominant species.
Thomas Sanger
Here is in interesting observation. As I mentioned above my A. carolinensis from Miami don’t seem to show the slightest interest in laying an egg right now. However, I just received a shipment of females from Louisiana and nearly half of them appear to be holding eggs. Could this be evidence of geographic variation in anole breeding cycles? If so, its interesting to consider that Miami is behind Louisiana and not the other ways around.