Where do you work and what do you do?

I work at the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC (on the National Mall).  My official title is Research Zoologist, but my unofficial title is Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles.  Those two titles reflect the two main components of my job, which are to conduct scientific research on amphibians and reptiles and to oversee the collections of amphibians and reptiles in the National Museum.  On the research side, my studies focus primarily on the systematics and evolutionary biology of lizards (including anoles, and snakes) and the theory (methods and concepts) of systematic biology. 

What aspects of anole biology do you study, and what have you learned? 

In keeping with my general research interests and job description, I study the systematic biology of anoles—that is, the boundaries and numbers of species and the common ancestry relationships of species.  The results of those fundamental studies provide the foundation for studying various other aspects of anole evolutionary biology, and the ones that I’ve been most involved in studying relate to diversification, adaptation, and adaptive radiation.  I’ve learned a lot of things about anoles over the years, but perhaps the thing that made the biggest impression on me was how old they are.  I was surprised that the first fossil anole that I studied was difficult to distinguish from members of some of the living anole species despite having lived ca. 20 million years ago. 

How and why did you start studying anoles? 

Ironically, I avoided studying anoles early in my career.  My first two herpetology mentors, George Gorman and Richard Etheridge, were both major contributors to mid-twentieth-century anole biology, but they had reached contradictory conclusions about the evolutionary relationships of some anole species.  I didn’t want to end up having to disagree with either of them, so I chose to work on iguanas and phrynosomatines at the time.  On the other hand, I had worked with anoles in the field as an assistant to Gorman, and I had also learned a fair bit about anoles through exposure to the work of my mentors, so I couldn’t help developing an interest in anoles.  By the time I was finishing graduate school, Gorman had changed careers and Etheridge had retired and shifted his focus to Liolaemus lizards, so there was less reason to avoid anoles.  I had also become friends with Jonathan Losos and had encouraged him to do research on anoles for his Ph.D. (he had been considering working on Varanus or Crotaphytus instead).  Jonathan’s interests and mine were complementary, and so we started a long and productive collaboration.  However, my first publication on anoles was a perspective on anole taxonomy written with David Cannatella in response to what we considered unnecessary changes in anole taxonomy. 

What do you love most about studying anoles? 

What appeals to me about anoles is their diversity combined with their uniformity—anoles are a most wonderful example of variations on a theme.  This concept is something that appeals to me more generally.  For example, some of my favorite museum exhibits are those that display the members of different species within a clade, such as pigs or apes.  (If you’re like me in this regard, and especially if you’re fascinated by skeletons (as I am), a must-see is the Galerie de Paléontologie et d’Anatomie comparée of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, which is basically an enormous room crammed with such displays, including even giant whales.) I have a poster in my house illustrating members of different native North American trout species even though I don’t have a particular interest in trout or trout fishing.  In the case of anoles, there are hundreds of species, all with the same basic body plan, yet each one is different in one way or another.  I never get tired of seeing anoles, and it’s always a thrill to see a species that I haven’t seen before. 

What is your favorite anole species? 

Because one of the main things that I love about anoles is their diversity, it’s really hard to pick a favorite species.  On the other hand, I tend to be particularly fond of those that are distinctive and/or strange in the context of the clade as a whole.  The giant twig anoles in the Chamaeleolis clade are among my favorites, especially Anolis guamuhaya, the species that includes the largest anole I’ve ever seen.  At the other end of the spectrum, I’m fascinated by Anolis vanidicus, a species made up of tiny Cuban grass anoles that have very thin arms and legs and remind me of insects.  Then there are the colorful, long-legged, rock-climbing Bartsch’s anoles (Anolis bartschi), and the proboscis anoles (Anolis proboscis) with their fleshy snout appendages, and the various species of aquatic anoles …  Sorry, I still can’t pick a single favorite. 

Where can people learn more about you and follow you online?

Website:  http://vertebrates.si.edu/herps/herps_staff_pages/deQueiroz-staff.cfm 


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