Central American Green Anoles Mating

Photo: Cesar Barrio-Amorós/ Doc Frog Photography

Cesar Barrio posted this quadtych on his doc frog facebook page. Taken from his balcony in Ojochal, Puntarenas province, Costa Rica, the photo shows Central American green anoles, A. biporcatus, mating in a cecropia tree. Other than the fact that it is a cool set of images, the photos show the dichromatism in dewlap color displayed by this species, which we’ve discussed previously, and also that the male changed color during the course of mating. I wonder why. It also illustrates that this species exhibits relatively little size dimorphism.

As a bonus, Cesar sent me a photo of the inhabitant of the next tree beyond the cecropia, an A. charlesmyersi strutting his stuff.

Photo: Cesar Barrio-Amorós/ Doc Frog Photography

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Jonathan Losos

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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