Author: Jonathan Losos Page 44 of 129

Anolis allisoni displaying. Photo by Pablo Bedrossian

Sister WordPress blog pablobedrossian has a nice post with photos and videos of A. allisoni from Los Cayos Cochinos in Honduras.

Introducing Anolis alocomyos.

Gunther Köhler and colleagues have done it again!This time, they’ve taken Anolis tropidolepis  in Costa Rica and divided it into three species in the December 2014 issue of Mesoamerican Herpetology.

The back-story: the A. pachypus complex (as the authors refer to it, except using the generic name Norops) has in recent years been split in Panama into four species, but complex member A. tropidolepis remained intact in Costa Rica. These lizards are long-limbed, narrow-padded lizards found near the ground at high elevations.

Based on eight years of collecting, Köhler and colleagues now split the group in Costa Rica into three species that are somewhat genetically differentiated at the 16s mitochondrial gene and that differ in hemipenial morphology and to some extent in scalation.  One of the OTUs (operational taxonomic units), comprised of a single individual, has the mtDNA of one species and the hemipenis morphology of another and is interpreted as evidence of hybridization.

The paper includes interesting discussion of bar-coding and how one goes from degree of genetic differentiation to decisions on species delineation.

One highlight of the paper was the icon shown below, which occurred at the bottom of one of the pages at the end of the article without explanation. A quick look at the other two papers in the issue revealed that each has its own logo–nice!

Photo by Christopher E. Smith

Christopher E. Smith recently tweeted this photo of an eyelash viper consuming an anole. The photo was taken in Tortuguero, Costa Rica in 2008 and the incident is recorded on HerpMapper. He provided additional photos which show the anole more fully. It appears to me to be an A. limifrons, though the regenerated tail means that the usual tail banding is not present.

And two more, for good measure:

And Down the Hatch!

Photo by Christopher E. Smith

In going back through the AA archives, I’ve discovered that we previously posted a link to these photos in April, 2011! But here they are again for your renewed viewing pleasure.

Consumption of A. limifrons by eyelash vipers has been previously reported, including a lovely photo by Harry Greene in Lizards in an Evoutionary Tree. A quick Google Image search yields a number of photos, although I suspect most are in captivity.

Here’s an interesting one:

Photo from Many Creatures of Costa Rica

This, in turn, led me to The Many Creatures of Costa Rica blog, which has a whole series of photos of this predation event from La Selva in Costa Rica. The anole seems to be A. humilis. Here’s another from the series:

We’ve reported on bird predation on anoles many times before [e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4], but here’s another. The paper just out in Herpetological Notes has also the gory details of what went down in Veracruz, Mexico.

In a recent post on the newly described Anolis triumphalis, I stated that the Reptile Database listed 400 anole species. It turns out I was mistaken. Fortunately, Claus Petesen and Peter Uetz have set the record straight in the comments: A. triumphalis makes 396. Four to go! Everyone get out there and find some new ones!

The march of Anolis to 400 species continues with a paper by Kirsten Nicholson and Gunter Köhler describing a new species from Panama.Actually, according to the Reptile Database, there are already exactly 400 species! So this makes 401.

Previously, ten members of the pentaprion group were known, seven from Central America, three from South America.

The new species, A. triumphalis (described under the name Norops triumphalis) has a large orange dewlap, thus distinguishing it from all other members of the group, which have a reddish-purple dewlap.*

Anolis triumphalis is described from a single male that was captured crossing the road between pastures with tall grass and a fence composed of wooden fenceposts and living trees. As the authors note, pentaprion group anoles are very similar to West Indian twig anoles. This story is reminiscent of the rediscovery of another mainland twig anole, A. proboscis, found after forty years by a group of birdwatchers when a male was observed crossing a road in front of a mini-van. Why the twig anole crossed the road is clearly a question that will puzzle philosophers for years to come.

*The authors state that the large, orange dewlap doesn’t distinguish A. triumphalis from A. sulcifrons, but as far as I’m aware, the latter species has a red-purple dewlap like other pentaprion group members.

Here’s the abstract:

We describe the new species Norops triumphalis sp. nov. from Darién, Panama. Norops triumphalis differs from all congeners by having a combination of (1) smooth, bulging, subimbricate ventral scales; (2) a short tail, ratio tail length/SVL 1.54; (3) short hind legs, longest toe of adpressed hind leg reaching to ear opening, ratio shank length/SVL 0.24; (4) a lichenous body pattern; and (5) a very large yellowish orange dewlap in males. In external morphology, N. triumphalis is most similar to the species of the N. pentaprion group. Norops triumphalis differs from the other species in the N. pentaprion group, except N. sulcifrons, by having a very large orange male dewlap (vs. a large red or pink dewlap) and an unpigmented throat lining. Norops triumphalis differs from N. sulcifrons by having the supracaudal scales not forming a serrated crest (vs. a distinct serrated caudal crest present in N. sulcifrons), 4 supracaudal scales per segment (vs. 3 supra-caudal scales per segment in N. sulcifrons), greatly enlarged outer postmental scales, about four times the size of adjacent medial scales (vs. moderately enlarged outer postmental scales, about twice the size of adjacent medial scales, in N. sulcifrons), and no enlarged postcloacal scales in males (vs. a pair of moderately enlarged postcloacal scales present in male N. sulcifrons). We further provide a standardized description and illustrations of the holotype of N. sulcifrons.

Drawing by C.M. Kosemen

Ho, ho, ho. Wouldn’t this be a great Christmas present?

My Backyard Birding posted this video on Youtube, stating: “Five Brown Anole Lizards feeding voraciously on venomous Fire Ants in the backyard. I’m not sure this phenomena has ever been filmed before. Amazingly the common, but invasive, Brown Anole Lizards living in the backyard have evolved to enjoy a treat of invasive fire ants, probably because they have been around together for many years now.”

Can anyone confirm that these are fire ants that the anoles are eating?

This fabulous photo of a blue phase Anolis carolinensis was snapped by Will Talley of the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo. It appeared in the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s (AZA) monthly magazine, Connect, which sponsors an annual photo contest, and this photo was celebrated as one of the best entries.

Will kindly gave us the backstory: “I was biking down Hawthorne trail outside of Gainesville Florida and got to the Alachua Lake overlook. That’s where this guy was. I saw him on a section of the platform, got my macro lens out. As soon as I got the camera close he seemed to see his reflection and start displaying. It happens quite often with animals seeing their reflection, it seems.”

Will sent along another fine herpetological photo as well, and you can check out some more of his work on Flickr.