Author: Chelsea Connor Page 1 of 5

Herper and PhD student from the Commonwealth of Dominica. Researching dietary niche overlap of the native and invasive species of anole on my island, and something new for my PhD.
...And also like every other anole. Every week. #DidYouAnole?

#DidYouAnole – Anolis allogus

By Chelsea Connor

On December 24, 2021

In All Posts

Photo: Alex Alfil, iNaturalist

Hello!

Happy Holidays and Happy Anole Eve!

I took a break for my birthday, and then it was a holiday, then finals, then I had to travel, but now I’m back and it’s almost a holiday again. Before another holiday I did wanna share a short anole post! I’ve also missed doing this and I’ve been thinking about what anole to do since I got to see the anole specimens at the London Natural History Museum.

I picked a festive little Cuban anole, Anolis allogus, also called the Spanish Flag anole or Bueycito anole (after a village where it can be found).

The males of this trunk-ground anole species have an SVL of ~60 mm, while females are about ~49 mm. Its distribution is sporadic but it’s found mostly in the east of Cuba. They follow the typical trunk-ground anole coloration of light or dark grey-brown tones, with striping on their tails, and marbling on their sides. Male Bueycito anoles have pale yellow dewlaps with either a center dot or lateral center stripes of bright red/red-orange. Females have smaller pale yellow dewlaps.

Photo: Alex Alfil, iNaturalist

Spanish flag anoles have been recorded predating on a species of Blindsnake. Check it out here!

I know this was short but I just wanted to say hi really quickly and Happy New Year!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis gundlachi

By Chelsea Connor

On November 12, 2021

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Photo: macrhybopsis, iNaturalist

I think as far as anole common names go, Yellow-beard is a top 10 name, just barely, but it’s up there.

The Yellow-beard anole, Anolis gundlachi, is endemic to Puerto Rico which is so overflowing with anoles I think it’s a little bit unfair at this point. With an SVL of about 68 mm in males and 45 mm in females, these medium sized anoles live at high elevations in the forest.

Yellow-beard anoles, following that trunk-ground color scheme, are dark olive to brown with darker striping across their backs and a pale colored ventral side. Their dewlaps aren’t quite yellow but are more of a mustard-brown, and their chins have a touch of pale yellow (Yellow-chinned anole doesn’t sound as good as Yellow-beard though). Males often have tail crests!

Photo: Steve Maldonado Silvestrini, iNaturalist

Like many of the anoles we know and love, Yellow-beards may eat other anoles and frogs that can fit in its mouth.

Yellow-beard anoles are often parasitized by malaria, and while more research needs to be done on parasite in this anole, there are existing ones noting tail damage in infected anoles and that males are more often infected, and another noting no significant decrease in overall body condition that you can check out.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis phyllorhinus

By Chelsea Connor

On November 5, 2021

In All Posts

Photo: Moares & Werneck, 2019

I think we may have to move #DidYouAnole to Fridays since that seems to be the better for me post recently.

And speaking of this week’s post I remember mentioning that there were other anoles with little rostral appendages and that I hadn’t gotten back to them.
(A shame it took me so long because they really are great anoles)

Anolis phyllorhinus, or the Leaf-nosed anole, is endemic to central Amazonia in Brazil (where I believe they’re called Lagarto papa-vento in Portuguese) but they are an uncommon sighting. They’re a great shade of leaf green, with pale green-white undersides. Like with Anolis proboscis, these anoles’ appendages are also flexible and possibly used to display.

The eponymous leaf nose is only present in the males, with female Leaf-nosed (or Bat) anoles not even having any swelling or prominence of their noses. Female Leaf-nosed anoles also have a greatly reduced white dewlap, while the males have a larger one that is bright red on the front half and blue-green or white toward the neck.

The SVL of a Leaf-nosed anole is about 71-85 mm, excluding the proboscis which itself varies from 20-23 mm in measured specimens.

#DidYouAnole? – Anolis alvarezdeltoroi

By Chelsea Connor

On October 29, 2021

In All Posts

Photo: Wouter Beukema, iNaturalist

So I’ve been reading a lot of anole papers, aside from the ones I normally read for fun (can’t believe I read papers for fun now), and I found an anole that’s pretty similar to two anoles I’ve looked at before but also still unusual.

Welcome back by the way. Nice to have to you here again.

This week is a third little cave anole, Anolis alvarezdeltoroi, or the Mexican cave anole. Mexican cave anoles live in a similar karst limestone habitat like Anolis bartschi and Anolis lucius and are often found deep inside caves, occasionally sleeping from the roof it. They may also perch from vegetation in or around the caves, particularly as juveniles.

Photo: Daniel Pineda Vera, iNaturalist

Like the other two anoles, the Mexican cave anole has a similar short body/long hindleg morphology. In a paper redescribing the species, the average SVL of the male anoles they measured was 53.3-74.0 mm, and 49.6-66.5 mm in females.

They seem to rely heavily on the karst habitat with healthy populations being found in areas with diminished forest but intact limestone/cave areas.

Male Mexican cave anoles have dark red dewlaps with white lateral rows of scales, while females have smaller black dewlaps with a similar pattern.

Photo: Arístides García Vinalay, iNaturalist

Please read the paper redescribing this anole here! For a while there was only a specimen available of it and not much info, but they worked on it and you should check it out. I wouldn’t have been able to write this if it wasn’t for them.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis acutus

By Chelsea Connor

On October 8, 2021

In All Posts

Photo: Manuel Leal

Hi!

Turns out grad school eats up a lot of your time some weeks. Who knew!

So here is a pretty cool Caribbean anole this week. Anolis acutus, the Sharp Anole is endemic to St. Croix. These anoles are tan to olive in colour. Their dewlaps are white with a large yellow-orange blotch closer to the body. Males have an average SVL of 67mm and females, about 49mm.

Photo: Brett, iNaturalist

They are territorial and maintain hierarchies within their habitats. If an individual is removed, they become slightly agitated until the territory is taken over by a new anole or the individual returns (Ruibal & Philibosian, 1974). The adults also tend to be sedentary and have a perch height hierarchy, but exclude juveniles from occupied trees leaving them to find and occupy empty ones or live on the ground (Ruibal & Philibosian, 1974).

St Croix anoles appear to be eurythermal, meaning they have a broad temperature range (McManus & Nellis, 1973).

Photo: nolafrog, iNaturalist

#DidYouAnole – Anolis rubribarbus

By Chelsea Connor

On September 23, 2021

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Photo: Alex Alfil, iNaturalist

I almost missed that it’s been a year of #DidYouAnole!! Thank you for sticking with me and learning about these lizards!

For this super belated one year anniversary, I have both an anole and a request.

First, the anole!

Anolis rubribarbus is a trunk-ground anole from Cuba. Specifically the eastern half of the Holguín province, around the town of Sagua de Tánamo from whence it gets one of its common names. The Sagua de Tánamo anole lives in the rainforest and possibly on rocky montane habitat in its range.

It’s listed as endangered due to its very limited range.

Also known as the Cuban tiger anole, their dewlaps are yellow with orange stripes and they are tan to olive with darker vertical stripes, like a… you know… tiger.

Photo: Alex Alfil, iNaturalist

Now for my request! I couldn’t find a lot about this anole’s ecology or natural history, so if you have worked on this species or know someone who does, please let me know!

In the meantime, here is a year in anoles from my Twitter, and from the blog!
Thank you! It means a lot to get to share these lizards with you.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis heterodermus

By Chelsea Connor

On September 9, 2021

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Photo: Wilmar Agudelo Sánchez, iNaturalist

It’s been a while since we’ve looked at an anole from South America, so why not go all the way over to an an anole that is probably at the highest elevation an anole species has ever been found: Anolis heterodermus, the Flat Andes anole!

Photo: Alejandro Lopez, iNaturalist

Anolis heterodermus lizards are arboreal and can be found on montane elevations in Colombia and Ecuador at about 2,600 m (8,530 ft). As you can guess, living at an such an elevation should be too cold for a lizard, but the Flat Andes anole is ok with this. They have been found to have wider preferred and body temperature ranges than expected for anoles and have adapted to take advantage of the limited hours of sun that the area gets (Méndez-Galeano & Calderón-Espinosa, 2017).

These anoles are large rich green to olive lizards with males being slightly larger than females at 85.4mm and 85mm respectively. They have wide banding on their bodies and both males and females have a patch on their tails that have been observed to change from red to blue throughout the day. This patch is larger in males (Beltrán, 2019) and is another sign of sexual dimorphism in this species. Their dewlaps are pink striped.

More on Anolis heterodermus from the pages of Anole Annals here.

Photo: Javier David Quiroga Nova, iNaturalist

#DidYouAnole – Anolis roquet

By Chelsea Connor

On September 3, 2021

In All Posts

From an island made up of other islands, is an anole species with lots of subspecies. Not entirely the same, but sort of.

This week’s anole is Anolis roquet, and its six subspecies. Also called the Martinique anole or savannah anole, it is endemic to the island and the subspecies are visibly different in the specific geographic regions they inhabit there. This means that much like Anolis oculatus, they are a great example of intraspecific variation. Male Martinique anoles typically have an SVL of 86mm and females are around 66mm.

The nominate subspecies (originally described) Anolis roquet roquet, can be found in wooded habitats near the penisula on the island, and is usually green in colour with spotting or stripes (in females).

Photo: Erika Mitchell, iNaturalist

Anolis roquet caracoli can also be found in similar habitat, but prefers more dense forest and is on the Caravelle Peninsula itself. Males of this subspecies have a more marbled pattern, while females have dorsal striping. Both are usually brown.

Photo: Erika Mitchell, iNaturalist

Moving to north coast, we find Anolis roquet majolgris, an olive-to-brown coloured subspecies. This anole tends to be darker; while the females also feature dorsal striping like those of the other subspecies, the males have small scattered spotted patterning and may have white blotches around their heads (Anderson et al, 2016).

Northwest, on the elevations of Mt. Pelée, is the montane subspecies, Anolis roquet summus. As its rainforest habitat would suggest, this anole is mostly a bold green. Males have a dark marbled and spotted pattern on their backs and sides and females have a chevron dorsal stripes and may have faint lateral mottled patterning.

Photo by Thomas Ackermann.

A tan to brown subspecies occupies the west coast, with males that feature a stripe pattern that most likely inspired its epithet, Anolis roquet zebrilus. The females are more drab and less boldly striped.

Photo can be found here.

Last but not least is Anolis roquet salinei, the southeasternmost subspecies. These anoles are olive to yellow-green and brown. Males have black bars on their back and splotches on their heads, while females have dark mottled patterning.

Photo: Erika Mitchell, iNaturalist

Both males and females have dewlaps with the males being larger and more brightly coloured. Recently, an adult male was discovered at a port in Dominica, likely having come in with a shipment. It was captured and recorded.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis gingivinus

By Chelsea Connor

On August 26, 2021

In All Posts

Photo: Kerry Ross, iNaturalist

Hello and welcome to my first post since officially starting as a grad student!
I think I’ve got my schedule down and we can get back to regular weekly anoles. Love that for us!

This week’s anole, Anolis gingivinus is also called the Anguilla Bank anole or Anguilla anole and is endemic to Anguilla and its satellite islands.
The Anguillan anole is reported to adapt well to anthropogenic effects on its habitat (Hailey et al, 2011) and to different niches, although its ecomorph affinities lie closest to being trunk-ground. They also seem to be abundant despite being heavily preyed on by American kestrels.

Photo: John Sullivan, iNaturalist

Male Anguillan anoles have an average SVL of 72mm and females have an average of 53mm. They are usually olive to greyish in colour with bright orange dewlaps, and have bold dorsal and lighter flank stripes. They also occasionally sport some green on their lower halves and males may have darker marbled spotting along their bodies. Anolis gingivinus are insectivorous but like many other anoles will eat smaller lizards.

Photo: Rozilber, iNaturalist

#DidYouAnole – Anolis stratulus

By Chelsea Connor

On July 15, 2021

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Photo: Chase G Mayers, iNaturalist

On the island of Puerto Rico this trunk-crown anole is locally called lagartijo manchando, but is also known as: the Puerto Rican spotted anole, spotted anole, banded anole, saddled anole, salmon lizard, barred anole, St. Thomas anole and chameleon.

They are possibly the most abundant anole in Puerto Rico but can also be found on the British Virgin Islands and US Virgin Islands. They can be spotted in a number of different habitats including urban environments, though they occupy buildings at a lower frequency than Anolis cristatellus. In Puerto Rico they can often be found in Tabonuco trees.

Photo: Steve Maldonado Silvestrini, iNaturalist

Spotted anoles are active foragers with an apparent preference for ants.

Males have an SVL of 40-44mm, and females an average of 46mm. They have large orange dewlaps that fade into yellow closer to the margins but female dewlaps are smaller and grey with orange near the throat. Spotted anoles are typically brown or pale gray with pale and dark coloured spots along its body. Unlike some of the anoles found in Puerto Rico, they don’t permanent crests but have a nuchal crest that they raise during antagonistic interactions and otherwise ridges down their backs. There is also a patch behind their eyes that darkens during these interactions as well, much like in Green anoles.

Photo: larsonek, iNaturalist