Author: Jonathan Losos Page 105 of 130

Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.

La Selva Lucky Seven

Anolis carpenteri. Photo from http://ctaudubon.blogspot.com/2011/04/young-researchers-shine-during-costa_05.html

We notched the double anole hat trick in the most unexpected manner last night, as a female of that rarely seen species, A. carpenteri, presented itself sleeping at chest level on an isolated plant in the clearing. With a day yet to go, hope springs eternal that a resplendent green A. biporcatus will make it a lucky seven at La Selva.

News flash—breakfast! Just learned that last night, the team headed for a ditch filled with caimans found an A. biporcatus sleeping on a branch above the trail. Seven anole species in two days!

Seven anole species at one site (eight if we include the unseen A. pentaprion). Certainly, a lot of anole diversity, but not unheard of in any way. In fact, such diversity occurs regularly on the Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto. Yet, the anole ensemble here differs greatly from what we would see in a diverse Caribbean community. All species-rich assemblages in the Caribbean are extremely similar, composed primarily of the different ecomorph types. Usually, such a location would have very common trunk-ground and trunk-crown anoles, and then representatives of three or all four of the remaining ecomorph types. The remaining species would either be some of the “unique” habitat specialist types which occur only on one island, such as the rock wall specialist A.bartschi on Cuba or members of the Chamaelolis clade; or they would include multiple members of the same ecomorph type, such as several trunk-ground anoles that use different thermal microhabitats.

By contrast, the La Selva Eight bears little similarity to these assemblages.

5 Anole Morning At La Selva

Anolis capito, the pug-nosed anole. Photo by Greg Mayer from http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/summer-reading-and-summer-vacation-anoles/

What better way to start off a spring break herpetology class field trip than to go anole hunting? And what a success it was! There has been concern in recent years that the herpetofauna at the fabled La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica has been declining, but we found no shortage of herps this morning–helped, no doubt, by ample rain yesterday. Anolis humilis and A. limifrons were extremely abundant, as were strawberry poison arrow frogs and, surprisingly, night lizards. A number of A. lemurinus, beautiful red dewlap and all, were spotted, and at a stream, a trio of aquatic anoles, A. oxylophus. The highlight of the morning, however, was finding a female A. capito in its traditional spot half a meter up a tree trunk. The pug-nosed anole, as it is called, is always cryptic, and seems to have become less common in recent years, but this is our second in 24 hours, as another was found during a night walk last night.

And that was just the morning. Going for the double hat trick today, all eyes will be out for the emerald green A. biporcatus. It’s very overcast, which may work against us finding this sun-loving crown dweller often seen high in trees on sunny days. Of course, the Holy Grail of La Selva anolology is A. pentaprion, the twig anole rumored to frequent narrow branches in the canopy, and very rarely seen. But with 26 pairs of herpetological eyes on the lookout, who knows what’s possible?

Oldie But Goodie: Anolis on the Cover of National Geographic

Lot of talk on this site about the deserved prevalence of anoles on the cover of major periodicals (most recently here). I thought it might be useful to remember what I consider to be the greatest anole cover of all time. The answer, incidentally, is “no.” And the species? Anolis garmani from Jamaica.

More On The Sad Anole Merchandise Situation

A year ago, AA lamented that in Costa Rica, land full of wonderful anoles, there was scarcely an anole piece of merchandise for the anole-entranced ecotourist to purchase. More recently, we commented that not only was the same true in the Dominican Republic, another bastion of anolishness, but that tourist marts were full of merchandise sporting green iguanas, an invasive species in that country.

On my recent trip to Aruba and Curaçao in quest of A. lineatus, I took time out to survey the lizard merchandise situation. Intrepidly venturing into one souvenir shop after another, powering through crowded stalls in outdoor crafts marts, I comprehensively surveyed the supply of schlock, tchotke and junk. It wasn’t easy, but I got through it all. And the result is clear: despite their prehistoric ugliness, green iguanas are all the rage.

Iguanas out of control in the ABC Islands.

Republican Primary Politics Explainable By Reference To Lizard Ecology

 

If this is Ron Paul, what ecomorph is Rick Santorum?

Holy smokes! It turns out that Republican electoral dynamics are completely explicable by reference to…Anolis lizard community ecology! So says noted Stanford ecologist Marc Feldman. Santorum, Paul and Romney are specialized to use different niches, and Gingrich apparently is a generalist that is having trouble competing with the specialists. Given that Feldman is from Stanford, he probably had the Lesser Antilles in mind, given the work of Joan Roughgarden. But given that there are three extant “specialists,” and that the Lesser Antilles never sport more than two species, comparison to the Greater Antilles is probably more apt, which leads to the question: which ecomorph do each of the candidates represent?

Crouching Anolis, Hidden Dragon: The Stunning Sequel to Clash of the Anole Titans

Clash of the Anole Titans

From the author of “Clash of the Anole Titans” comes this poetic tale of youth redeemed, power lost, and grace under pressure. Don’t miss it.

Year Of The Lizard Poster Features Beautiful Anolis Grahami

Don’t think I’ve ever seen one this shade of turquoise. Anyone know where it’s from?

As we all know, 2012 has been designated the Year of the Lizard. To stay up-to-date on lizardy festivities, as well as to stay abreast of issues in lizard conservation, consult http://www.parcplace.org/news-a-events/year-of-the-lizard.html. The poster can be downloaded at that site as well.

Get Your Anole Founder Effect Paper Here!

The good folks at Science magazine are giving away copies of the recent paper for free! Get yours today. Just click here.

Knight Anole Eating a Bird!

Knight anole eating a bird! Photo courtesy of Paul Richards.

In their recent paper on home range of A. equestris, Nicholson and Richards reported on a knight anole consuming a migrating blue-gray gnatcatcher. Here are the full details, in the words of Paul Richards:

“Kirsten Nicholson and I were attempting to resight one of our radio transmitter equipped A. equestris. Resighting transmitted individuals was difficult as they are hard to see even when we have a clear signal. We would regularly spend 15-20min search, and have a 50% change of resighting a transmitted individual (or less, I cannot remember – but we can probably estimate this from our notes). I saw a Blue-gray gnatcatcher land on a branch right in our general search area that was about a 2m diameter zone of the canopy of a small tree at about 3-5m height. I looked away continuing the search and seconds later I heard an alarm call, looked back to the spot and saw the A. equestris in the picture with the bird in its mouth. This A. equestris was unmarked, and I do not recall ever resighting the transmitted individual that we detected in the area. We can check our notes but I think it took at least 20min for this A. equestris to finish eating the gnatcatcher. I recall in using the branch to wipe/swipe its jaw across, one side the the other, repeatedly, to help get the bird in its mouth.”

New Study on Color Change In Green Anoles

Green anoles can change from green to brown. Occasionally, they do it only part way. Photo from http://www.floridagardener.com/img/critters/Greenanole.jpg

Widely, if inaccurately, known as the American chameleon, Anolis carolinensis is renowned for its ability to change color from a sparkling emerald to a deep brown. Surprisingly, we don’t really know what factors determine whether a particular lizard chooses to be green or brown at a particular time.

Here’s what I had to say about it in Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree (pp. 279-281; I’ve omitted most references here):

“In theory, we might expect green anoles to match their background, turning green when in vegetation and brown when against a woody surface. Although widely believed, this idea is not strongly supported (reviewed in Jenssen et al., Herp. Monographs, 1995).

Page 105 of 130

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