Author: Jonathan Losos Page 111 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.

Famous figure from the Williams (1972) paper in which the term "ecomorph" was introduced.

I just read another paper that uses the term “ecomorph,” this one in reference to populations of insects. We anolologists know that Ernest Williams introduced the term “ecomorph” in his classic 1972 paper (available here), defining an ecomorph as those “species with the same structural habitat/niche, similar in morphology and behavior, but not necessarily close phyletically.” The terms “ecomorph” and “ecomorphology” are now widely used. Was Williams really the one who coined the term? And is its current use consistent with the ideas he developed?

Seven Anole Species Found at a Site on the Ecuador – Colombia Border

By Jonathan Losos

On October 30, 2011

In Notes from the Field

On the Tropical Herping website, Lucas Bustamante provides a report–accompanied by gorgeous photographs–of the seven species of anoles, as well as other reptiles and amphibians, found on a Tropical Herping field trip to Chical, a frontier site near the border of Ecuador and Colombia where the faunas of the Chocoan lowlands and the Andes meet. The diversity of species found on the trip was spectacular, but Bustamante aptly noted that the “anoles were the highlight.”

Dewy Anole

By Jonathan Losos

On October 29, 2011

In All Posts

Photo of a dew-covered A. carolinensis by Jude Haase at http://500px.com/photo/2565902?from=popular

Brown Anole Dewlapping at a Much Larger Predator: Why?

By Jonathan Losos

On October 25, 2011

In Natural History Observations, New Research

Grackle snacking on an anole in Florida. Photo by Andy Wilson from http://www.pbase.com/andywilson/image/60039533

Most anole watchers have experienced the phenomenon of walking up to an anole and having it display. What good could come of displaying to a potential predator thousands of times more massive? In a perceptive experiment, Leal suggested that anoles actually are trying to tell the predators something: specifically, that a displaying lizard is very fit, and that a potential predator, in this case a snake, would be better served looking elsewhere for a meal.

But there are few observations of anoles displaying to predators in nature. In a recent Natural History Note in Herpetological Review (42:427-428), Catherine Levey documents one such instance: “I observed an adult female boat-tailed grackle (Quiscalus major) on a sidewalk with an A. sagrei in its bill. The anole was approximately 7 cm snout-vent length. The bird was vigorously shaking the anole with sideways flicks of its head. After about five seconds, it put the anole down on the pavement. The anole immediately arched its back, fully extended its dewlap, and became immobile. The bird looked at it and did not move for about five seconds. It then pecked the anole several times near the head, which caused the anole to withdraw its dewlap and run. The bird pursued it and picked it up. The anole thrashed in the bird’s bill; it did not extend its dewlap. Again, the bird put it down and again it immediately displayed its dewlap. the bird paused for a few seconds, picked up the lizard by its midsection, and flew out of sight.”

Anole Vs. Egret

By Jonathan Losos

On October 24, 2011

In Natural History Observations

This image is bouncing around the internet, and I can’t find any information on its origin, but it looks like an anole to me. Valiant last ditch effort, but I think we all know the outcome.

Turnabout’s Fair Play

By Jonathan Losos

On October 23, 2011

In Natural History Observations

A few weeks back, we reported the death of an anole at the hands–er, pedipalps–of a spider. Now Janson Jones reports the opposite.

More generally, we know that spiders are a very common prey item in the diet of many anole species, but how often the reverse is true is unknown.

Anolologists on the Move: Jason Kolbe

By Jonathan Losos

On October 22, 2011

In Anoles and Anolologists in the News

Jason Kolbe, the doyen of anole invasion biology and conservation genetics, has taken up a faculty position at the University of Rhode Island. Research in his lab generally addresses the evolutionary dynamics of biological invasions using Anolis lizards as a model system. He uses molecular markers to reconstruct invasion histories and to test factors that facilitate or constrain phenotypic evolution during invasions.

Jason invites applications from motivated students for graduate degree work in the area of evolutionary ecology and evolutionary genetics of invasive species. Funding will be provided either as research or teaching assistantships, depending on student background and availability. Applicants should be independent, highly motivated, and possess some research and/or field experience. Students with experience using molecular techniques (i.e., DNA extraction, PCR, DNA sequencing, microsatellite genotyping) or conducting GIS-based spatial analyses are encouraged to apply. Prospective students should contact Jason Kolbe via email (jjkolbe@mail.uri.edu) and provide a short description of research interests and accomplishments, a CV (including GPA and GRE scores), and contact information for three references.

Anole Action Series

By Jonathan Losos

On October 20, 2011

In Natural History Observations

Need a dose of live lizard action? Why not check out the long-running series, Anole Alley, on lizardvideos.com? Now in its fourth season, with an all-star cast of green anoles (maybe browns, too–I haven’t watched all that many of them).

Episode 39, part 2, big game hunting, is linked above. It features a large male green anole snagging a dragonfly–well done! Other episodes show other anole hi-jinx and escapades. Store this one to put some sunshine into a cold, wintry day.

Thin Snakes Eat Big Anoles

By Jonathan Losos

On October 18, 2011

In Natural History Observations, New Research

Blunt-headed treesnake eating an Anolis petersi.Photo by Elí García-Padilla from the March issue of Herp. Review.

The blunt-headed treesnake, Imantodes cenchoa, is renowned for its anolivory, but being a pencil thin snake, one might have thought that its carnage would be limited to the smaller members of anole nation. Not so, as two Natural History Notes in the March, 2011 issue of Herpetological Review report. García-Padilla and Luna-Alcántara report a treesnake eating a large A. petersi in the Los Tuxtlas region of Mexico (photo above), and Ray et al. provide the details of a 56 gram I. cenchoa that was found with a 19 gram A. frenatus and a 1.3. gram anole egg in its stomach. Justice was served in the latter case, as the snake died soon after capture, and an autopsy revealed a perforated stomach, attributed to the anole’s claw, presumably during post-ingestion attempts by the anole to pull a Gordon and escape.

Variation in Habitat Use by Females with Different Back Patterns

By Jonathan Losos

On October 17, 2011

In New Research

Female Anolis polylepis. Photo from http://www.wildherps.com/species/A.polylepis.html

In many species of anoles, females within a population exhibit sometimes strikingly different back patterns. A recent paper showed that there is interesting variation in the incidence of such variation: mainland and Lesser Antillean anoles exhibit it much more than Greater Antillean anoles, and within regions, some clades are more polymorphic than others. Although closely related species tend to be similar, this trait has been evolutionarily labile, evolving an estimated 28 times.

The occurrence of this variation raises the question: what’s it for? The most detailed study of the question was Schoener and Schoener’s examination of female polymorphism in Anolis sagrei in the Bahamas. By looking both within and between populations, they concluded that this polymorphism was related to crypsis. In particular, females with stripes tend to occur on narrow diameter branches, where the stripes help them blend in. Calsbeek and Cox have more recently examined the same species, finding most recently that different patterns don’t seem to vary in fitness, though they did not examine whether females with different patterns occurred in different parts of the microhabitat.

The only other recent work on this topic was conducted on A. polylepis in Costa Rica by Steffen.