We’ve previously discussed cases of anoles being mistaken for geckos, as well as the very negative effects that cats can have on green anoles. Turns out that anoles aren’t the only lizards that serve as gecko doppelgangers. And you might think that people wouldn’t mistake lacertids for anoles, but apparently that happens, too.
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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Daniel Scantlebury
I’m pretty sure this lizard is a European lacertid.
Rich Glor
Agreed. I’m not sure exactly what lizard it is, but its certainly not a green anole.
Jonathan Losos
Good point, Dan, except that you forgot my recent counter-proposal to reclassify “Anolis” to include all lizards.
Anthony Geneva
Of course snakes would render that all lizard genus paraphyletic, so you’ll need to throw those in too.
Jonathan Losos
no, that was included. Just as birds are dinosaurs, snakes are lizards. I think we just need to call them lizards and get rid of that ugly term, “squamate.”
IanWang
Mistaking one lizard for another is a silly mistake, but Geico has made for more ridiculous errors, actually running radio ads campaigning to make the gecko the state amphibian in some states.
http://www.chron.com/life/article/Geico-s-gecko-doesn-t-have-special-status-in-Texas-1646112.php
Liam Revell
Can you add the option “neither a gecko nor an anole” to the poll?
Jonathan Losos
Note to readers: if some of the comments above don’t make a lot of sense, it’s possible that the author of the post made a tiny mistake and then went back and edited the post after the comments were posted.
Rich Glor
By “tiny mistake” the author of this post means that the person who wrote the book on Anolis lizards mistook a lacertid for an anole in a post intended to make fun of others for not being able to distinguish an anole from a gecko:)
Jonathan Losos
Unfortunately, WordPress does not save previous versions once they are changed, so I’m afraid the actual events are now lost in the fog of time.