Anolis gadovi, taylori or something else?
We’ve discussed iNaturalist before. It’s an on-line community for naturalists where you can “record what you see in nature, meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world.” In fact, if you go to AA‘s Citizen Science page, you can see recent iNaturalist anole observations, and you can add your own observations there as well. Get to it!
This photograph was uploaded to iNaturalist today, snapped at Jardín Botánico de Acapulco Esther Pliego de Salinas in Acapulco. Speculation abounds that it’s either A. taylori or A. gadovi. Can anyone out there confirm the identity of this beauty?
Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.
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Ludovic Deutsch
Hello,
I haven’t any body description for both species, but I think the scientists who wrote this paper will can help you.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/62860577/The-Relationships-of-Anolis-Gadovi-Albumin-Immunological-Evidence.
The IUCN red list website said “Populations have been recorded from sea level to close to 1,300 m asl.” about the A.gadovi. And this for the A.taylori “This species is known only from the Puerto Marquez area, in northern Acapulco, Guerrero State, Mexico. It is a lowland species occurring at sea level to 200 m asl.”
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/64196/0
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/64217/0
Scott Loarie
Thanks to everyone for the help. Yesterday, Uri García who is familiar with these species proposed an ID of A. taylori which is what I suspected. Chime in if you agree or disagree.
Levi Gray
The dorsal pattern matches taylori, but the dewlap not so much. Anolis gadovi looks nothing like that in pattern–it lacks stripes, except for the occasional middorsal stripe on a female. The dewlap looks more like a typical dunni, in actuality. While Anolis dunni has stripes, I’ve never seen one to have quite the strongly contrasting ones seen in this photo. I know some believe dunni and taylori are the same species, though that wasn’t our interpretation.
I’d say taylori, though the ones I’ve seen have had more purplish dewlaps.