Although Anole Annals is devoted to all things anoline, we try not to be too parochial. In particular, when fascinating items appear in print or cyberspace on other lizards, we try to report them here, especially if they have some relevance to matters anole.

In this vein, we wish to draw attention to an interesting communique that just appeared in Tetzoo, a fascinating site dealing with a wide range of topics, and taxa, concerning tetrapod zoology. The article in question discussed snail-eating in the Australian pink-tongued skink (a rosy version of the blue-tongued variety) and the broad crushing teeth seemingly designed for such a purpose, teeth that are parallelled in a fossil marsupial.

Chamaeleolis teeth from Estes and Williams. Ontogenetic variation in the molariform teeth of lizards. J. Vert. Paleo. 4:96-107.

The relevance to anoles, of course, is that one of our very own, the Chamaeleolis clade, exhibits very much the same trait of snail crushing, as illustrated in a previous post.

Jonathan Losos
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