Author: Chelsea Connor Page 3 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 landestoyi

By Chelsea Connor

On March 11, 2021

In All Posts

Photo by Miguel Landestoy

Hello, it’s me your favourite PhD student!
If you don’t follow me on Twitter I was celebrating getting into a PhD program last week. I’m still really excited but the anoles wait for no one and I found an anole I really like so I’m here to pass this knowledge on to you.

This week’s anole is Anolis landestoyi, another chameleon-like anole, and closely related to the anoles of the chamaeleonides clade of Cuba.

These anoles, found in the forest of the Dominican Republic, have an SVL of 122-135 mm and short tails. Similar to the chamaeleonides anoles, they have large heads, though not quite as large as the snail-eating anoles.

How a Well-Hidden Giant Got Uncovered: the Discovery of a New Anole Species from Hispaniola - Anole Annals
Photo: Miguel Landestoy

Anolis landestoyi is a mossy green in colour with spotches of brown, giving it a similar appearance to tree bark covered in the lichen or moss that are abundant in its range. Males have a pale coloured dewlap with some light blue and white stripes, while females have smaller slightly lighter coloured dewlaps. Like other chameleon-like anoles, their diet includes various species of arthropods, but no mention of snails sadly.

Anolis landestoyi (2 of 2) [image] | EurekAlert! Science News
Photo: Miguel Landestoy

#DidYouAnole – Anolis garmani

By Chelsea Connor

On February 25, 2021

In All Posts

Photo by Alan Franck, iNaturalist

Hello again! Thank you so much for coming back. I know the post times have been a little bit off, but I’ve been working on some things and hopefully will be able to share one of those soon.

Anyway! I decided to pick another crown-giant for today and it is Anolis garmani, the Jamaican Giant anole. This anole is native to Jamaica, but has been recently introduced to the Cayman Islands and, (say it with me) Florida. Male Jamaican Giant anoles have an SVL of 131 mm, usually closer to 100 mm and females, 80 mm.

Photo by Tom McLellan

They are bright green with yellow dewlaps, and males have a dorsal crest of pointed scales. Unlike other crown-giant anoles, the Jamaican Giant anole has a proportional head size and shape to its body.

Photo by J. Burke Korol, iNaturalist

Smaller males are allowed to share and occupy the territory of larger male Jamaican Giant anoles. The larger males may even mate with the smaller ones, but once they grow over ~104 mm, they have to find their own tree. Mating, from beginning to end, takes about 25 minutes (Trivers 1976).

#DidYouAnole – Anolis cuvieri

By Chelsea Connor

On February 18, 2021

In All Posts

Photo by Jorge Velez-Juarbe, iNaturalist

Happy Anole Day!

Here’s another crown-giant anole, Anolis cuvieri, the Puerto Rican Giant anole.

Photo

The Puerto Rican Giant anole is, as the name suggests, native to Puerto Rico. These anoles typically have an SVL of 132 mm, and both sexes have large tail crests. While these bright green anoles can turn darken and turn brown, this species also has a rare brown morph! Juvenile cuvieri are grey-brown with striping and shift to their signature green when they mature.

Photo by Graham Reynolds

They eat insects, mainly beetles, moths and butterflies, and also occasionally fruit, snails, birds and of course, other anoles.

Photo by sas103, iNaturalist

Puerto Rican Giant anoles prefer rainforest and can be found where there are lots of large trees together.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis equestris

By Chelsea Connor

On February 12, 2021

In All Posts

Photo by Karl Guyton II

Hi!

Welcome back. I lost a family member and took a break, but I’m back now and thank you for coming back.

I picked the Cuban Knight Anole for today because there’s just so much anole to love.

Anolis equestris are crown-giant anoles and the largest known species of anole with an SVL of 10-20 cm in males and 9-17 cm in females. Their tails can be about twice their body length. They are territorial and will gape and display at perceived threats, while raising its body.

Cuban Knight anoles are native to Cuba, but have since been introduced to places like Turks and Caicos, Florida, Hawaii and the Canary Islands.

Photo by Ultra Violet

These large anoles eat pretty much whatever they want to, including the usual anole fare like insects, nectar, other smaller lizards, and fruit and plant matter. They are actually able to pass on viable seeds! Cuban Knights have also been seen eating other animals that are smaller than themselves, like birds, scorpions, and frogs.

Photo by Paul Richards

Both males and females have dewlaps, which for this species have no pattern and are pale pink. There are 11 subspecies of the Cuban Knight anole, including A. equestris poitor, also called the Blue Beauty for its blue colouring that becomes more prominent and overt in its dark phase. These are only found in Cayo Santa María, an island off Cuba’s north central coast.

Photo by Jesús Reina Carvajal

Thanks for reading!

Here’s a video of a female digging a possible nesting site for your time.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis lucius

By Chelsea Connor

On January 21, 2021

In All Posts

Photo by djhiker, iNaturalist

Congratulations on the 46th President to all the Americans! Its only day 2 so he still’s brand new, but that doesn’t mean the work is done!

Speaking of work, I’ve been thinking about this anole (previously seen here) since Anolis bartschi.

Anolis lucius, or the Slender Cliff anole, is another endemic Cuban anole. It can be found close to urban areas and in similar karstic habitats to the Western Cliff anole. They also can be found inside caves where they also lay their eggs, sticking them to the walls (Hardy, 1957). They have a cyclical reproductive cycle, mating and laying their eggs in the wet season, after egg production occurs in the dry season.

Photo by Alex Alfil, iNaturalist

Slender Cliff anoles have a really pretty design with almost circular striping at the top of their heads and striping down their sides. They have a translucent lower eyelid, the purpose of which is unknown. Possibly to help filter out light when they initially emerge from the caves? Is anyone studying these anoles right now? Can you email me? For science??

Photo by Shea Lambert

In the meantime, here’s a paper about winter aggregation. Socially distant huddles! Cute!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis agassizi

By Chelsea Connor

On January 14, 2021

In All Posts

Hey there!
I’ve been wanting to do this anole for a while so I’m kind of excited. These posts keep me going sometimes when the news is rough. I hope anoles bring you some respite as well.

Anolis agassizi is an anole that is endemic to Malpelo Island (off the coast of Colombia).

The island has rocky terrain and no vegetation, and the anoles are not territorial, and will willingly overlap or share perches and food sources. The insects that they eat are mainly beetles that are attracted to the colonies of birds that nest there. They also seem to have an attraction to the colour orange.

Anolis agassizi males have an average SVL of 105.4 mm, and females at 85.2 mm. They are mainly predated on by the Malpelo (or Dotted) galliwasp and seabirds.

Large males have large nuchal crests that are permanently erect, unlike other anoles. The small morphs of the male anoles also differ in colour, having spotted heads like the females do. All males have very small dewlaps.

Photo by Daniel Vásquez-Restrepo, iNaturalist

#DidYouAnole – Anolis bartschi

By Chelsea Connor

On January 8, 2021

In All Posts

Happy New Year!

I know this year has been off to… a start.
A lot has happened, and while someone else would avoid “getting political” in their scicomm, I think we should acknowledge that science is political. Voting was only one step to making America better, and that was threatened by people who want to continue to perpetuate racism and white supremacy. We all saw what happened. There’s no way that anyone calling the people who stormed a government building during an election process are patriots. There’s so much work to do, more than reading a book or following more Black scientists on social media. While those are good, being anti-racist and standing up against people who would seek to uphold these structures are continuous processes. I hope this new year brings you renewed resolve to be allies.

Now. Here’s to a good anole to start the year with.

Anolis bartschi, also known as the Western Cliff anole and West Cuban anole, is beautiful and peculiar.

Found in the Pinar del Rio, the westernmost province of Cuba, this anole lives on karstic (a type of limestone topography) hills, equipped with long hindlimbs and toes that help it get around the terrain. It can be found on the rock faces, cliffs, rock piles and in crevices.

It is one of two (known) anoles that completely lack a dewlap, but it does inflate its throat as a display, along with the usual anole head bobs. They are also one of the few species with communal nests, with the females laying their eggs in crevices on the sides and walls of caves. Female Western Cliff anoles can get up to 6.4 cm long (SVL) and the males about 7.5cm. They are also one of the few anoles with blue colouring.

Checking another box for uncommon anole behaviour, Western Cliff anoles squeak (Rodríguez Schettino et al.,1999)! And they may hang from their forelimbs, and walk with their toes raised. An individual may eat smaller anoles than themselves.

Western Cliff anoles are considered at a low extinction risk.

Like many anoles, we are still learning about more this anole and I can’t wait to find out more.

Photos by Shea Lambert and Yasel Alfonso

#DidYouAnole – Anolis homolechis

By Chelsea Connor

On December 31, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Christian Grenier, iNaturalist

Hello!

I hope you’ve been having a great holiday and that 2021 will be a great year for you. And what better way to end the year than with an anole?

Anolis homolechis, the Cuban White-fanned or Habana anole, is a trunk-ground anole native to Cuba. It is very similar in appearance to the Brown anole (Anolis sagrei), but, as the name suggests, has a stark white dewlap that may have light grey large stripes.

Photo by Alex Alfil, iNaturalist

White-fanned anoles are sympatric with Brown anoles; however they partition by temperature, with Brown anoles preferring hotter areas. White-fanned anoles can be found in the shade and can occur at higher elevations than Brown anoles as well (Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree, 2009).

Female Habana anoles have a very small dewlap, almost identical to the males, but with smaller, darker striping.

Photo by Wayne Fiddler, iNaturalist

Photo by Wayne Fiddler, iNaturalist

I hope you like this anole and happy New Year, friends! Thank you so much for a great, anole-filled year!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis distichus

By Chelsea Connor

On December 10, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Jake Scott, iNaturalist

Hello again!

Hope you all are doing great. I just finished my finals and two applications to PhD programs (so far) so fingers crossed for me???

I wanna talk about another (mostly) brown-coloured anole today since I feel like there’s not enough appreciation for them.

Anolis distichus, the Bark Anole, is a trunk anole with about 16 subspecies, that ranges in colour from brown to grey to green. Their dewlaps also vary in colour and pattern with their population. Males and females look the same, but in this species only males have a dewlap.

Found in Haiti, Dominican Republic, central Bahamas and, of course, Florida, these anoles can be found in range of habitats. Bark anoles are kind of on the small side at about 127mm in length.

My favourite thing about the Bark Anole is the patterning that gives it its name. The striping mimics the roughness and shapes found in tree bark, making it kind of invisible sometimes. Quite an example of perfect camouflage.

Photo by alyssa_marker16, iNaturalist

There’s been a lot of research on the anole, particularly looking into its subspecies and if any of them are their own species. Currently, this doesn’t seem to be the case quite yet.

Maybe. There’s a lot of conversation about just how much variation there is or isn’t with this species.

Photo by djhiker, iNaturalist

#DidYouAnole – Anolis sagrei

By Chelsea Connor

On December 3, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Alan Franck, iNaturalist

Hey!

Since we had some questions about tail curling in Brown Anoles last week, I figured we should just talk about them today!

Anolis sagrei, or the Brown Anole or Bahaman Anole, is a trunk-ground anole whose range originally included islands like the Bahamas, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Brown Anoles are great stowaways and have now made it to the mainland US, other Caribbean islands and Pacific islands like Hawaii.

Brown Anoles can get up to 8.5 inches long (including their tail), and have a snout-to-vent length of about 55-60mm. They are, as their name suggests, often brown, but may also be grey. Despite the drab colouring, these anoles have a lot of variation in their patterns between individuals, with some almost looking plain and others appearing very striking with an array of spots, striping and marbling. Brown anole’s dewlaps are typically red-orange with a yellow border, but there are some who have splotches of yellow.

Since the introduction of another brown coloured anole, Anolis cristatellus (the Crested Anole), the two may be confused, but Brown anoles can be differentiated from them by the dewlap colouring (Crested anoles have opposite dewlap colours, typically yellow with a usually large border of orange), and if you can get close enough, by the presence or absence of light coloured ring around the eye or front limb stripe. Brown anoles don’t have this ring, but instead have dark eye bars (I like to think of it as winged eyeliner, that’s just how it registers the fastest in my mind). They also don’t have a light stripe above their front limb. Female Crested anoles have only a cream-coloured stripe down their backs that Brown anole females might have between diamond or bar patterning.

As we all may know ,they’re also very feisty anoles, going after questionable prey and prey larger than themselves. They are also one of several anoles that eat other anoles (and other lizards)!

Photo by Gecko Girl Chloe, iNaturalist

In the pet trade, Brown anoles with red/orange colouring are called Flame morphs, and lucky for you here’s a study on why that red might be showing up.

Photo by Sam Kieschnick, iNaturalist

I also get a lot of questions on Brown and Green anole interactions, typically about why Brown anoles are killing off Green anoles and here’s some posts to help answer that!