Festive anole in the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore
We’ve reported previously on the introduction of festive anoles (a.k.a., brown anoles) to Singapore. Now, a new report reveals that they are, indeed, spreading far and wide in the island state. How long before they make it to Malaysia (if not already)?
From Hongxia and Zhiyuan. 2020
Hey! Hope 
everyone has been having a good month so far!
As we all know it is October, my favourite time of year, and I am trying to bring you anoles that can fit the season. For now, here’s an anole whose female has an orange and black dewlap, the official unofficial colours of Halloween.
Anolis lososi is an Ecuadorean anole that tends to be found in open areas of forest.
The anoles are usually about 55-60 mm (SVL) and have bands on their tails and limbs. Their colouring is grey to green, sometimes brown, and resembles lichen. The females have yellow-orange dewlaps with black spots, while males have white, unpatterned dewlaps.
The limbs of this anole are short and it has been found sleeping on twigs and ferns from 2 to 8m off the ground.
Because this anole was recently found and described, there’s not a lot of information about it. Yet!
Journal of Natural History, 2017. doi:10.1080/00222933.2017.1391343
Barnacle Historic State Park in Coconut Grove, Florida, where crested anoles have replaced brown anoles over the past 15 years.
Not long ago, I posted results from a return visit to a beloved South Miami site, the Doc Thomas House, that experienced a change in the dominant anole species following a change in canopy development. Another fine place that shares a then-and-now story is the Barnacle Historic State Park in Coconut Grove, also in south Florida. The first visit to the Barnacle was in 2005 when we conducted a herp bioblitz at this wonderful coastal park.
On 6 July 2007, anoles were counted and their perch heights recorded at the Barnacle. Anolis cristatellus was there and in the surrounding, area but it was greatly outnumbered by long-time resident, A. sagrei, at the park. In 2007, A. cristatellus occupied higher perch sites than A. sagrei. Alas, time was not kind to A. sagrei. A return visit to the site on 14 February 2020 revealed a very different arrangement of things. Anolis cristatellus was now everywhere and much more numerous than A. sagrei had been in 2007. Only one A. sagrei, and a possible hybrid, was seen in 2020, and the perch heights of A. cristatellus shifted in the opposite direction. The habitat historically had been open and so favorable to A. sagrei. Between 2005 and 2020, the hammock had remained well-canopied, and the side walls were well-shaded, to the liking of A. cristatellus. Thus, unlike at the Doc Thomas House, where canopy development facilitated colonization by A. cristatellus from surrounding area, the Barnacle habitat was predisposed to its colonization.
In Frontiers in Zoology
Kaczmarek, Janiszewska, Metscher, and Rupik
Despite the diverse morphology of the adult squamate naso-palatal complex – consisting of the nasal cavity, vomeronasal organ (VNO), choanal groove, lacrimal duct and superficial palate – little is known about the embryology of these structures. Moreover, there are no comprehensive studies concerning development of the nasal cavity and VNO in relation to the superficial palate. In this investigation, we used X-ray microtomography and histological sections to describe embryonic development of the naso-palatal complex of iguanian lizard, the brown anole (Anolis sagrei). The purpose of the study was to describe the mechanism of formation of adult morphology in this species, which combines the peculiar anole features with typical iguanian conditions. Considering the uncertain phylogenetic position of the Iguania within Squamata, embryological data and future comparative studies may shed new light on the evolution of this large squamate clade.
Development of the naso-palatal complex was divided into three phases: early, middle and late. In the early developmental phase, the vomeronasal pit originates from medial outpocketing of the nasal pit, when the facial prominences are weakly developed. In the middle developmental phase, the following events can be noted: the formation of the frontonasal mass, separation of the vestibulum, appearance of the lacrimal duct, and formation of the choanal groove, which leads to separation of the VNO from the nasal cavity. In late development, the nasal cavity and the VNO attain their adult morphology. The lacrimal duct establishes an extensive connection with the choanal groove, which eventually becomes largely separated from the oral cavity.
Unlike in other tetrapods, the primordium of the lacrimal duct in the brown anole develops largely beyond the nasolacrimal groove. In contrast to previous studies on squamates, the maxillary prominence is found to participate in the initial fusion with the frontonasal mass. Moreover, formation of the choanal groove occurs due to the fusion of the vomerine cushion to the subconchal fold, rather than to the choanal fold. The loss or significant reduction of the lateral nasal concha is secondary. Some features of anole adult morphology, such as the closure of the choanal groove, may constitute adaptations to vomeronasal chemoreception.
Last year in early March while visiting family back home in south Florida, my daughter asked me if I’d drive her to a friend’s house in South Miami. The drive took us right past The Doc Thomas House, site of a herp survey I conducted in the 1990s, not long after Hurricane Andrew ripped through town (download the article Florida Download the article from the Florida Field Naturalist). The Doc Thomas House is also not but a stone’s throw from the original site of introduction of Anolis cristatellus in South Miami. The whole area was part of my childhood and not-so-childhood home range.
I told my daughter the story of how so long ago it was a lot more open than it was now as we were driving past it, and how back then it was dominated by its sunnier habitat counterpart, A. sagrei. She suggested that I revisit the site. Superb idea! After dropping her off at her friend’s, I stopped by the place. I was struck by the high abundance of A. cristatellus in the now heavily-shaded 1.5 ha remnant pine rockland-tropical hardwood hammock purchased by Doc Thomas in the early 1900s when Miami was still wet behind the ears. I saw no A. sagrei.
Well, needless to say, my vestigial tail was awaggin’. Staff was supportive of a return visit, and I did return for a single day and night survey on 5 September 2019. Admittedly brief, too brief to ascertain some things, but more than enough time to discern other things. What a joy it was to visit again. Lots to wonder about. As I did in 1997, I counted herps and noted perch heights. I also flipped rocks. Things had changed a lot for anoles so influenced by shade. The update and comparison with the earlier work is published in the Kansas Herpetological Society’s journal, Collinsorum. I hope you find it worth your time to read.
Photo by Andreas Kay, Flickr
Hey all!
Here’s a bit of lizard joy for you today!
HUGE shoutout and credit to The Amphibians and Reptiles of Mindo by Arteaga et al. because I can’t find any natural history info about this anole anywhere but in this book. If you can get it, you should! Because of current events they can’t do their normal herping tours (Tropical Herping) and could use the support. Their photography is amazing and you can get calendars, posters and pocket field guides!
NOW ON TO THE ANOLE.
Photo by Andreas Kay, iNaturalist
Anolis gracilipes, the Charm Anole, certainly is a charming little anole.
It’s been classified as a twig ecomorph, a group of small anoles whose bodies are adapted for narrow surfaces like, you guessed it, twigs. This little lizard can get up to 172-181 mm for males and 169-191 mm for females.
This anole has a brown colouring on its back, with triangular markings and green on its throat, down to its chest.
Photo by Jorge Britos, iNaturalist
Charm anoles can be found in Ecuador and Colombia, where they are common, but may depend on (unfortunately declining) forest canopies.
Photo by Edison Ocaña
Charm anoles are ambush predators and sometimes can be found at ground level.
Photos by James Lindros
After my recent post on another observation of a bright orange–some might call it red–brown anole, Annals reader Nathan writes: “I saw the post of the Orange sagrei from Sarasota on Anolis Annals. My friend James Lindros has been breeding an Orange/Red Line in captivity, and I asked if it was ok to forward this photo. James is a true expert on keeping and breeding Anolis and lives in West Palm Beach, FL.” James gave permission to use the photos and added that “they’re second generation captive bred from full red parents.” Spectacular!
A brown anole from Sarasota. Photo by Rick Greenspun.
A brown anole from Sarasota. Photo by Rick Greenspun.
One of the most popular topics on Anole Annals are posts (such as this one) on orange- or even red-colored brown anoles. We regularly get comments on old posts on this topic, as well as people reporting new sightings. The most recent is shown above, sent to us by Rick Greenspun from Sarasota, who says this is the first such anole seen there in the 47 years he has lived there.
Hello and welcome back!
Sorry I missed last week but I’m here to make it up to you with another impressively coloured anole.
This week is Anolis gemmosus, the Gem Anole.
The Gem anole is another Ecuadorean anole where they are common in the cloud forests.
Female gem anoles have no dewlap, are mainly green in colour and typically have a tan stripe or chevron pattern down their back.
Photo by Andreas Kay
Males typically have spotting all over or in the form of stripes down their tails and bodies and their dewlaps are large starting with blue closer to their necks, shifting to green then yellow-green. They also have white stripes across the dewlap. The largest recorded Gem anole was 66mm (SVL) and they may be quite long-lived.
Photo courtesy of James A. Christensen
Their pattern makes them very cryptic and difficult to spot, and since they prefer to perch in foliage, it helps them as ambush predators.
Gem anoles don’t bask intentionally (Arteaga et al, 2013). How does that work?? Well they just happen to get filtered sunlight where they choose to hangout and wait for their prey. They don’t look for perches in direct sunlight to bask. They do appear to pick perches to sleep in however, that get exposed to sunlight when the sun rises so they can quickly reach activity temperatures.
Photo by Diana Troya
This post is reprinted from the pages of Chipojo Lab.
Are lizards smarter than we give them credit for? Check out Manuel & Levi’s feature in the magazine Ciencia about foraging and problem solving in Anolis sagrei! The study was designed and conducted entirely in the lizards’ natural environment— in aims of understanding lizard behavior in an ecologically-relevant context. In the field of animal cognition, the majority of experiments are done in the lab, and field-based work is comparatively rare. We are in great need of more studies out in nature.
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