Author: Chelsea Connor

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 porcatus

By Chelsea Connor

On August 20, 2020

In All Posts

Hey!
I’m taking a break for two weeks, but instead of leaving you without a post for two weeks in a row, here’s Anolis porcatus which I mentioned I had tweeted about the week before my first post!

Anolis porcatus is the Cuban Green anole. A trunk-crown anole with a dewlap ranging in colour from reddish to pink. Like it’s name says, it’s from Cuba but it has now been introduced to Florida, Brazil and Hispanola. And one was found in the… Canary Islands?? I’m jealous. That sounds like a great vacation.

As you’ve seen from pictures, Anolis carolinensis and A. porcatus look extremely similar (for obvious reasons now haha).

Well that’s because, they’re the same species. As discussed in the Anolis carolinensis post, the American Green anole is not a distinct species.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve been going though the proposed series of anoles called the carolinensis series. They’re all trunk-crown anoles and look very similar, even identical like the American Green and Cuban Green. Some of the members are found in Cuba & that’s where their common ancestor is thought to originate.

The idea was that Anolis porcatus made its way to America a very long time ago and then, due to speciation, along came A. carolinenis. But because the two can interbreed, that means there’s no reproductive isolation, doesn’t it? That’s not all, but you can read about it from Dr. Losos’ post and the paper itself!

I hope you all have a great week!! I’ll see you on September 3rd. Thank you so much for reading!

Photo by Jesús Reina Carvajal

#DidYouAnole – Anolis longiceps

By Chelsea Connor

On August 13, 2020

In All Posts

File:Anolis longiceps lizard.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Photo by USFWS R. Colon

Hope you are all having a great week!

I have searched high and low for this anole and now I’m here to present to you, Anolis longiceps.

This anole is found only on Navassa Island. Navassa is 76 km west of Haiti, has an area of 5.4 km² and is uninhabited (by humans). The introduction of cats and dogs, as well as goats that contribute to the destruction of vegetation, have led to the Navassa Anole being listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. The island also had faced habitat degradation from mining.

Navassa Anole males can get up to 83 mm (SVL), while the females are at about 76 mm. Some have light spotting which is yellow-ish in their green phase and white in their dark phase.

The name longiceps means “longhead” and refers to the anole’s snout which is described as long and tapering to a point, much like A. maynardi. Its dewlap is orange with white scales.

These pictures appear to be of the holotype (a specimen used to describe and name a new species) from the Smithsonian Institution’s Division of Amphibians and Reptiles at the NMNH.
There don’t seem to be any other pictures I can find of this anole, but if you are aware of any, please let me know!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis maynardi

By Chelsea Connor

On August 6, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Mike Vallee

Hello there. I’m here to bring a bright spot to your day with a little weird lizard, as you do.

Anolis maynardi, is endemic to Little Cayman in the Cayman Islands and introduced to Cayman Brac, and while it looks like a few of the other anoles in the carolinensis series, this one has a really long nose. It also can have striping (marbling?) along its body.

This one even has checkering!

Like the other anoles, it is capable of a dark phase. I think this is one of the better ones I’ve seen.

Photo by Pat Shipman

Its been noted that they feed on nectar like a few other anoles too. The Little Cayman Green anole has a yellow dewlap and was (hilariously) described as “…apparently stupid…” in The Herpetology of Cayman Islands (1940) by Chapman Grant.

Its elongated snout is described as pincer- or tweezer-like, and possibly aids in catching flying prey.
Like with the other anoles in this group, female Little Cayman Green anoles have smaller, more proportional heads to their bodies.

A study looking at the population of these anoles on Little Cayman and the introduced population on Cayman Brac, found that the Cayman Brac population had a higher bite force. The morphological differences between the two populations may have occurred for a few reasons. Check it out!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis brunneus

By Chelsea Connor

On July 30, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Thomas Sanger

Hey there! Look at you! Back for more anoles.
You love to see it.

This week we are talking about Anolis brunneus, the Crooked Island anole!

Update from Crooked Island - Anole Annals

Like its name suggests, this anole is from Crooked Island in the Bahamas and can also be found on Acklins Islands.

Photo by S. Blair Hedges

This member of the A. carolinensis series isn’t bright green like the others, and can’t shift to it either. It’s brown and its colour change abilities consist of shifting to a darker brown or grey, some can shift to an olive tone, or they can enhance the prominence of blue on the heads of males.
They do have really nice marbling on their sides as well and the females are less conspicuous than the males.

It does have that pink dewlap consistent with its relatives though.

Photo by S. Blair Hedges

These anoles can get up to 76 mm (SVL) and, like the other members of the carolinensis Series, is a trunk-crown anole.
Like many other anoles, the males also have nuchal crest that they can erect.

Battle of Anolis Brunneus - Anole Annals
This last picture is one taken by Michele Johnson of a fight between two males. She got to see this fight on Crooked Island with Thomas Sanger (and two students) on a trip to research these guys!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis fairchildi

By Chelsea Connor

On July 23, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by R. Graham Reynolds

Hey!

It feels like its been more than a week, full of worm drama, but I promise it has not. I wouldn’t leave you without a post that long. Anoles obviously are the best study species.

I thought it would be good to stay in the Bahamas, Cay Sal specifically, with the Cay Sal Anole, Anolis fairchildi.

Photo by Michael Sorenson

These anoles are endemic to Cay Sal; the species is another one in the A. carolinensis series, but is not closely related to our friend, A. smaragdinus. The island is fairly difficult to get to, so not a lot of people have seen these anoles to take pictures (and information) of them, but I did find some. They look very much like some of the other green anoles in this series.

Photo by Alberto R. Puente-Rolon

Look how unimpressed he is. I think this is one of my favourite features of all these anoles.

The Cay Sal Anole can get up to 11.65 g in weight and 75 mm SVL (males). Like their cousins, A. fairchildi has a pink-y dewlap!

If you want to read more, here’s Dr. Reynolds talking about his trip to Cay Sal and finding these anoles (it’s in three parts), and the resulting paper.

This one was pretty short, but that’s why we need more people doing anole research so we can learn more about all of these lizards.

Thanks for reading! I’ve been appreciating your comments as well!

#DidYouAnole – Anolis smaragdinus

By Chelsea Connor

On July 16, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by: Jake Scott

Howdy y’all!

This week we’re going green again with probably one of the best anole names ever (next to apletophallus maybe). It is the trunk-crown anole, Anolis smaragdinus, the Bahamian Green anole.

Quick side note: It appears that some of the authors on this site (Jonathan), disagree about how awesome the name is.

Now it’s name translates to “emerald” from Latin, which is entirely fitting because it is a gorgeous green anole, with a GREEN (sometimes yellow-green) belly. Please forgive me for the gratuitous pictures of smaragdinus. I love a good green anole.

Photo by: Cleo Falvey

Species coexistence in landscapes of fear | Nature Research ...

Like all its cousins it can change that green to drab brown, but it’s face is a bit more pointy and it has a red-orange or deep peach colored dewlap.

Photo by: Emily Powell

And as the name implies, this lizard is from and is endemic to The Bahamas.

There are two recognised subspecies, A. s. smaragdinus and A. s. lerneri. The main differences between them being an axillary (“armpit”) spot that A. s. smaragdinus has, and occasional chin spotting, and then their size. Anolis s. lerneri males are larger, with an SVL of up to 64mm and have a pointier head.

Photo by: Cleo Falvey

The Bahamian Green anole was observed in a study by Dr. Losos and colleagues where they were introduced to a small uninhabited islet that is occasionally (due to the tide) connected to a larger one by a strip of rock. These trunk-crown anoles are rarely found on the ground, but when Dr. Losos and his colleagues returned to the islet, the lizards had dispersed to and colonised the larger islet. This is a really interesting note because arboreal anoles aren’t often, if at all, observed going to ground and traveling to colonise such vegetation.

Bonus! Here’s a very yellow smaragdinus found by James T. Stroud and some more posts about this anole!

James T. Stroud on Twitter: "Bahamian green anole (Anolis ...

#DidYouAnole – Anolis allisoni

By Chelsea Connor

On July 9, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Humberto Bahena Basave

Hey guys! As an international student and considering what’s happened recently, it’s been tough. But having happy things is really important right now and anoles are exceedingly wonderful lizards, I’m sure we all agree here. So I’m still going to do #DidYouAnole this week because I love doing it.

And we are continuing with the A. carolinensis series.

There are 13 species in this proposed group of anoles and they are all morphologically similar, so we’ve got a few more pointy headed anoles coming up. This week is Anolis allisoni, one of my favourites and it’s because of the blue mostly if I’m being completely honest. Look at it! Most of them look like they’ve been dipped in paint!
(Please don’t dip lizards in paint!)

Photo by Christopher Hampson

Anolis allisoni, also called Allison’s anole or the Blue-Headed anole, is found in Cuba where all anoles in this series are thought to originate from. It’s also found on the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos (Honduras), and Half Moon Caye (Belize). And guess where else they’ve been spotted now. I feel like I actually will go to Florida when the world is OK because it seems like 300 of the 436 recognised anole species live there now.

Anolis allisoni is capable of changing from green and blue to brown like A. carolinensis, and pretty quickly too. Only the males have this blue colouring and pink dewlaps, and the amount of blue varies by individual, as well as by population it seems, with those in Honduras having less blue than other locations. Like A. carolinensis, the females have smaller, more proportional heads, but they don’t have the white dorsal stripe that Green anole females tend to. Males typically have an SVL (snout-to-vent length) of 10cm, while the females are about 7-8cm.

Look at that little bit of pale blue on this A. allisoni compared to the intense blue on the first! (Photo by Christian Grenier)

And then this individual has his blue like racing stripes! (Photo by Shea Lambert)

Most female anoles lay their eggs in the dirt, and West Indian anoles follow a reproductive cycle where a period of inactivity aligns just about with colder months (October – February). Anolis allisoni however is one of the six species in Cuba that we know of to have communal nests, where all the females lay their eggs together! How cool is that!

They are also really good at pretending to be grass apparently. Check this older post and see how many you can find. I think I found the 5 Dr. Losos says there should be. For those of you that follow #FindThatLizard, I know Earyn didn’t have a challenge on this Wednesday, so maybe this can help!

Thanks for reading!

#DidYouAnole? – Anolis carolinensis

By Chelsea Connor

On July 2, 2020

In All Posts

Anolis carolinensis, 18 March 2017 – floridensis

Photo by Janson Jones

Hey there!

Welcome to #DidYouAnole on Anole Annals for the first time!
I talk about a new anole every week on Twitter (with really good GIFs) and now here too!

This week’s #DidYouAnole is in collaboration with #GuessThatSkull, so if you want a 3D look at an A. carolinensis skull, check it out!

Last week I talked about Anolis porcatus and that A. carolinensis wasn’t a distinct species, but that’s not its fault and it’s still worthwhile to talk about. Since A. carolinensis was described first, that would mean A. porcatus should become carolinensis. So they’re all A. carolinensis!

The American Green Anole or simply, the Green Anole, gets its name from its colour. As most of us know it’s usually green, but it can change to brown, olive shades, grey and can even be blue!

Green anoles display sexual dimorphism, which is when animals have different features based on their sex. Like peacocks and peahens! Females tend to be smaller and have more proportional heads, have a white stripe down their backs and may have a dewlap that is much smaller than a male’s.
(Juvenile males may also have this dorsal stripe though!)

Wildlife - Green Anole Lizard (Anolis carolinensis) - GeorgiaInfo

Photo by Vicki DeLoach

A lot of people have remarked that their native populations of the Green anole have been disappearing due to the introduction of the Brown anole. While it is entirely possible that its population can be affected by A.sagrei, it’s also very likely that these anoles are just partitioning by habitat. That means that Green anoles (trunk-crown ecomorphs) used to roam freely, but now with another anole around, they’ve moved and further adapted to the trees and the Brown anoles (trunk-ground) stayed on the ground where they prefer and are very visible.

Brown anoles are totally jerks though.

Green anoles have a range of dewlap colours. Most commonly bright red to pink, but some populations in southwestern FL have grey dewlaps and are a subspecies, A. c. seminolus, and some in HI have lilac dewlaps. This has been noted a few times by observers and authors on Anole Annals.
Speaking of which, I’m super excited/scared to bring this to you here on Anole Annals. I love this website. I’ve been in articles on here before and now I get to share my anole fan-girling on here myself!

And speaking of the dewlap colours! I draw anole stickers and my carolinensis sticker is now available in grey, and lilac. And there’s a new anole friend waiting there for you too!

Thanks for reading!!