Author: Jonathan Losos Page 107 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.

We’ve already posted on Anole, the world’s first gay comic book superhero (here and here). However, since that post, much more information has appeared on the internet, so it seemed time for an update.

I won’t review the particulars of his history because there’s now quite an extensive, wikipedia-style entry here. Rather, I think it’s worth discussing what super powers an anole-based superhero is endowed with. And I’ll cut straight to the chase: I think Marvel Comics kind of blew it.

So, here’s what Anole can do:

> Run slightly faster than a human (whoo! Impressive. Anyone remember Antman from Saturday Night Live?).

> Regrow severed limbs, salamander-style.

> Superhuman reflex speed–that one sounds right on.

> Alter skin color and appearance to blend in–this would make a good topic for a post–do anoles actually do this at all? Or, for that matter, do those renowned tricksters of the saurian world, chameleons, engage in such subterfuge?).

> Stick to and climb walls of any type, “a la Spiderman” according to the website (how about “a la anoles”?).

> Shoot his sticky-ended tongue out great distances–whoops, wrong lizard clade.

> Superhuman strength, but only in his right arm, which is regenerated.

Anole also has a number of interesting talents and interests, including that he is very good at hand-to-hand combat, enjoys theater, speaks French, and likes playing frisbee, basketball and pool.

Now, personally, these attributes don’t scream out “Anole” to me. So, I put it to you, Anole Annals readers–if you were going to create a superhero named Anole, gay, straight, bi, celibate or other, what attributes would he or she have? Perhaps we can petition Marvel to create another named Dactyloa or Chamaeleolis.

The Contrary Anole of Bonaire

By Jonathan Losos

On January 28, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Non-alphabetically arranged, the ABC islands lie in a row 20-50 miles north of Venezuela with Curaçao sitting in between Aruba 50 miles to the west and Bonaire 30 to the east. Like many small Caribbean islands, each of the islands harbors but a single species of anole. Previous posts have discussed the inhabitant of Aruba and Curaçao, Anolis lineatus. Bonaire’s anole, however, is a beast of an entirely different stripe.

Anolis bonairensis. Photo by Jonathan Losos

What is curious is not the fact that a small island, not too far from other islands, has its own endemic species. Such anole species occur routinely in the Caribbean, such as A. lividus on Montserrat, A. nubilus on redonda, and A. sabanus on Saba. Rather, the oddity of A. bonairensis is its evolutionary heritage.

How Big Are Hatchling Crown Giant Anoles?

By Jonathan Losos

On January 27, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Young knight anole. Photo from http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Anoles/messages/2236899.html

There’s not a lot in the literature on the size of hatchling anoles, especially the giants, and such toddlers are not well-represented in museum collections. The photos here, easily gleaned from the web, indicate that newborn knight anoles are substantially larger than hatchlings of smaller species. What about other anoles? Does anyone out there know how the size of hatchlings of other large anole species? And how big are the eggs? Pictures, anyone?

Fresh out of the egg. Photo from http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/RandeMchance/Anolisequestris1dayold.jpg

Adventures in Stamp Land

By Jonathan Losos

On January 26, 2012

In Anoles in Commerce

Several days ago, I challenged Anole Annals readers to identify the three problems with this stamp, issued by Grenada and other nearby islands in their “Reptiles of the Caribbean” series… The answers were creative and insightful, and identified some issues that I had missed. And readers even picked up on one problem I thought would elude them. So what are the problems to which I referred?

The photograph is of a male Anolis grahami.

Problem #1: A. grahami is from Jamaica. Why is it on a stamp from Grenada? This was the gimme.

Problem #2: This individual actually was from Bermuda, where A. grahami was introduced in 1905. Bermuda, of course, is not in the Caribbean. This was the tough one that no one realized.

Problem #3: This is my photograph, used without my permission! Don’t believe me? Here’s the unabridged version, which appears on Todd Jackman’s Anolis webpage, which Todd speculates, probably correctly, is where the Grenadians got it:

I can assure you that I never granted permission for its use, and until I stumbled across it on the internet, I was unaware that it had been planted on a $6 stamp (royalties—ka-ching!). Does anyone know a good intellectual property rights lawyer with offices in the Lesser Antilles?

It turns out, however, that kerfuffles with anoles and postage stamps are not unheard of. Here’s another, brought to my attention by Uwe Bartelt, rumored to be the world’s leading anole philatelist.

Winner of Photo Contest and Big Discount on Anolis Calendar

By Jonathan Losos

On January 24, 2012

In All Posts

First, congratulations to Ramon E. Martínez-Grimaldo for his overwhelming electoral majority in the Anole Photo Contest. His prize will soon be winging its way southward.

Second, the good people at zazzle.com have permitted us to drop the price of the 2012 Anole Calendar by 30%. Get ’em while supplies last! Go to http://www.zazzle.com/anoles_2012_calendar-158860158425229228 and use the coupon code ALLCALENDARS.

How are these two points related, you might wonder? The answer is easy. We will be having a contest for photos to include in the 2013 Anole Calendar with a nifty prize. So start snapping those pix and fire up Photoshop–the contest will come around before you know it!

Asymmetrical Dewlaps Redux: the Anoles of Aruba

By Jonathan Losos

On January 23, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Anolis lineatus from Curaçao

Several previous posts have discussed the odd case of Anolis lineatus on Curaçao, whose dewlap differs from one side to the other. Rand and Rand reported this in 1967, but the observation was pretty much forgotten until earlier this year, when Matt Brandley and compatriots confirmed the Rands’ claim. Shortly thereafter, Melissa Losos and I travelled to Curaçao as well and observed the same phenomenon, allaying concerns that the Brandley team was covering for the Rands.

But since these posts, many AA readers have no doubt been sleepless at night, pondering the obvious question: what about A. lineatus on Aruba? Do they, too, have mismatched throat fans? Indeed, one could imagine a scenario in which they might not. Asymmetry is a common result of low levels of genetic variation (although there is a lot of quibbling about this in the literature). Curaçao is downstream in an ocean current sense from Aruba. Thus, it could be that the Curaçao population of A. lineatus was founded by one or few Arubians, and thus the resulting founder effect gave rise to the dewlap discordance.

An exciting hypothesis that I am pleased to immediately quash:

Can You Name Three Things Wrong With This?

By Jonathan Losos

On January 21, 2012

In All Posts

For reasons I can’t recall, I stumbled across this stamp on the internet. There are three things wrong with this. What are they? Ok, one of them is more an oddity than a problem, and that’s a pretty easy one. But I bet no one can come up with either of the other two.

Battle of the Sexes: When Dewlaps Differ

By Jonathan Losos

On January 20, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Anolis insignis above, Anolis transversalis below. Males on left, females on right. Photos appeared in Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree, photographed by Steve Poe (insignis), Arthur Georges (male transversalis) and Alexis Harrison (female transversalis).

Sexual dimorphism–differences between the sexes–have been greatly studied in anoles, and so has dewlap color and patterning. But little research has been directed to the phenomenon of sexual differences in dewlap color or pattern. Such differences are relatively rare in Caribbean islands, but much more common in mainland species. Why does this occur? Nobody knows. In fact, what female anoles use their dewlaps for has been little studied (another phenomenon, fodder for a future post, is differences in the size of the dewlap between the sexes, which can be quite substantial).

In any case, here’s a sampling of dimorphic dewlaps.

Anolis fitchi (female and male), and Anolis orcesi (female and male)

Photos courtesy Melissa Woolley.

Name That Little Known Anole

By Jonathan Losos

On January 15, 2012

In All Posts

Mystery lizard

Here’s a lousy photo of its dewlap, in case that helps.

lousy photo of dewlap

More on the Intriguing Anole of Curacao, Anolis lineatus

By Jonathan Losos

On January 14, 2012

In Notes from the Field

Anolis lineatus. Photo by Jonathan Losos

Matt Brandley recently posted on the remarkable anole of Curaçao, Anolis lineatus, which is notable for having a dewlap that is different on its two sides. Taking advantage of an invitation to participate in a conference in Aruba in January (the travails of life as a scientist), I’ve come to Curaçao to check up on this lizard, which I’ve never previously seen. The dewlap situation sounds remarkable, but there’s a second reason this species is of interest.

Many islands in the Lesser Antilles are home to only one anole species, and the anoles on these islands are renowned for the extent of their convergent evolution to each other and to trunk-crown anoles of the Greater Antilles. Schoener was the first to show that one-species island anoles tend to be remarkably similar in body size, a pattern reaffirmed most recently by Poe et al. The convergence extends beyond size, however, as these species also are very similar in their habitat use (similar to trunk-crown anoles in being arboreal but using a wide range of microhabitats) and their body proportions, such as the length of their limbs and the size of their toepads.

That leads to the question: is this a phenomenon solely of the Lesser Antilles and the two anole lineages that occur there (the bimaculatus Group anoles in the northern half of the island chain and the roquet Group in the south)? Or do solitary anoles anywhere converge on this pattern? Anolis lineatus is a particularly good test, because it comes from a lineage (the chrysolepis species group, about which we will hear more soon) that is not only distantly related to the other two, but is composed of anoles whose habitat and morphology are nothing like those of the solitary anoles.

So, I’m aiming to not only take a peek at lineatus’s throat fan, but also collect data on where it occurs and what it’s morphology looks like. First indications are that lineatus is a chunky anole, not unlike some solitary anoles such as marmoratus or oculatus, but perhaps more similar to trunk-ground anoles than to trunk-crowns.

Habitat-wise, though, lineatus is clearly a surprise—it’s not very arboreal, at least in my day and a fraction of data collection. It’s usually pretty low to the ground, rarely over 1.5 meters high, and often on large rocks or rock walls. More like a trunk-ground anole than a trunk-crown. Moreover, though I’ve been looking for it in the vicinity of human habitations, I’ve yet to see it on a building wall. Bottom line: it’s just not that arboreal.

To be honest, the anole that immediately comes to mind is Anolis gingivinus. This species is a bit hard to categorize: it occurs on some Lesser Antillean islands by itself, but on others it is sympatric with a second species (A. pogus). Moreover, on all islands, it tends to be found relatively low to the ground and not surprisingly, morphologically it’s more trunk-ground-like than typical solitary anoles. Of course, I haven’t actually seen gingivinus in nearly 20 years, so my memory may be faulty.

And we shouldn’t forget the Malice of Nature, which leads me expect to open my door tomorrow and see an anole on the ground, which immediately runs up the wall and out of sight.

By the way, there are other cool lizards here. Lots of green iguanas, for example, but also the very cool and herbivorous Cnemidophorus murinus, endemic to Curaçao and nearby Bonaire.

Cnemidophorus murinus. Photo by Jonathan Losos