Year: 2013 Page 5 of 37

In flipping through field guides to look at agamid dewlaps, I came across a couple of South-East Asian Agamid lizards with blue eyes. Given our recent discussions of blue-eyed anoles, I thought I’d point out these lizards as well. All information is from L. Lee Grismer’s Lizards of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and their Adjacent Archipelagos
(and here’s an AA review of the book).

Aphaniotis fusca (Dusky/Peninsular Earless Agama): more fascinating than the blue eyes themselves is the variation among individuals in iris colour–A. fusca irises can be blue, orange, or brown. It appears that blue irises are restricted to adult males, but not all adult males have blue eyes. Further, the inside of these lizards’ mouths (the oral mucosa, to be precise) are also bright blue, similar to  Anolis onca.

Gonocephalus liogaster (Orange-Ringed Anglehead Lizard): hands-down winner for lizard with the most dramatic eyes, adult males of this species have a bright blue iris surrounded by a bright orange ring.

 

With nearly 500 votes cast, it’s coming down to the wire. Get your vote in before the Sunday, 6 p.m. deadline!

All of us that observe and study Anolis (and Sitana) know that dewlaps make our favourite lizards special. Dewlaps can be key for species identification, and we pay a lot of attention to variation in their size and colour. But what exactly constitutes a dewlap?

I’m currently compiling a list of all lizard species with dewlaps, and have run into the problem of how to define a dewlap. Our trusted friend Wikipedia defines a dewlap thus:  a longitudinal flap of skin that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. Helpful, perhaps, but only slightly, as the difference between a small dewlap and a puffed-out throat is not always obvious.

So we’re turning to you, dear reader, to help us figure out what a dewlap is. I think the easiest way to do so is by showing you a number of pictures of lizards and asking you to deliver a verdict on whether these lizards are in fact dewlapped (photos from various internet sources). Feel free to offer an alternative definition also, if you’d like.

1. Rock Agama

 

 

 

 

 

2. Calotes calotes from Sri Lanka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Panther chameleon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Varanus griseus

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Iguana iguana

I’m currently preparing a grant proposal featuring Anolis sagrei for a philanthropic foundation with broad goals that extend well beyond biology. The people reading this proposal will thus have diverse backgrounds, probably mostly non-biological and certainly non-herpetological. In reading a draft of the proposal, a friend remarked “This lizard needs a new name for this grant!” And, indeed, on reflection perhaps “brown anole” is not the most exciting name for the general public.

So, who wants to help re-brand A. sagrei? Of course, an obvious possibility is Sagra’s Anole, since the species was, after all, named after Mssr. Ramon de la Sagra*. But…that’s not really that exciting either. My friend (a biologist) suggested “the tramp anole,” using “tramp” in the ecological sense of a weedy species that is able to colonize and establish in a wide variety of habitats. A possibility, for sure, but maybe some of the other connotations aren’t so good. His second suggestion, though,  merit’s consideration. Turns out that “sagre” in Italian means “a festival.” And what lizard could be more of a partier than the ever-flashing, always rollicking, A. sagrei? So, I put it to you, anole world, what if we start referring to this species as “the festive anole”?

*It’s an interesting story how the species ended up A. sagrei, and not A. sagrai, but that’s a tale for another time.