David Polly, vertebrate paleontologist extraordinaire, keeps an eye out for living organisms as well, but turns out his specialty really is the dead ones. Here’s the story: “Ironically I was trying to photograph a live anole on the University of Florida campus [in Gainesville] who was annoyingly reclusive while trying to avoid a swarm of ants. The Anolis escaped so I turned attention to the ants, who turned out to be engaged in Anolis reanimation.”
Category: All Posts Page 49 of 148
Check the new episode of the series “Chris & Z’Andy, the 2 anoles in Dominica ” published in PeerJ (Dufour, Herrel & Losos 2018)!
See also episode 1
Recently, colleagues and I from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic published a paper (Holáňová Zahradníčková et al. 2018) in Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae announcing the discovery of a new dimorphic Anolis population/species from Cuba.
Finding “Chamaeleolis” at their typical habitat at Gran Piedra, Cuba.
During my last trip to Cuba in 2012, I had the luck to find a male of unusual Anolis (“chamaeleolis group“) at Gran Piedra mountain, Santiago de Cuba province. At first glimpse, I knew it is something new—it had a red dewlap! All of to the “Chamaeleolis“ described thus far didn’t have that. By distribution region, it had to be Anolis porcus, but it looked different. Some time later, by coincidence I received some Cuban anoles with locality from Russian private breeders and what a surprise: there were false chameleons with red dewlaps! So, we could start our research on these unique animals.
Can you see it? Photo by Veronika Zahradníčková
In comparison with other species of the “chamaeleolis group,“ animals from this population display surprising dichromatism in dewlaps. Males have shiny red dewlaps, while females have whitish dewlaps.
Lateral view of heads and dewlaps in males and females of five examined Anolis species/populations of the “chamaeleolis” group
We compared this “new anole“ with other Anolis species of the “chamaeleolis group“ (A. barbatus, A. chamaeleonides, A. guamuhaya and A. porcus) through morphology, mtDNA, visual modelling and spectrophotometry. Our results showed expected distinctness of this dichromatic population.
Amazing dorsal crest of Anolis sp. male. Photo by Veronika Zahradníčková
Veronika Zahradníčková with adult male of Anolis sp. at Gran Piedra, Cuba
Why did we not describe it? In the original description of A. porcus Cope, 1864 there is no information about dewlap coloration nor about the exact type locality. We would need to compare our material with the A. porcus holotype (ANSP 8133 in Philadelphia). We wanted to avoid taxonomic discussions concerning species identity of these specimens until a thorough revision of A. porcus sensu lato including properly localized materials can be completed. We would prefer to cooperate with Cuban herpetologists in this.
And so now it is waiting for description and scientific name. Who will be the first?
It has come to our attention that today’s deadline for submissions to the Anolis Newsletter VII is landing squarely during many contributor’s field research and conference seasons, and so we have taken the decision to extend the submission deadline by 1 month.
The new deadline will be: 31st August 2018.
We hope those of you there were unable to meet today’s deadline are now able to put together a submission in time for the next! This is lining up to be the best newsletter yet. Contributions to the newsletter can take many forms, for example:
– Overviews of research programs and labs
– Discussion of new projects or ideas
– Summaries of work in progress
– Manuscript-like reports.
More than anything, this is an opportunity to let the anole community know what you’re up to. At the same time, this is not something to stress over. These are newsletter reports, informal non-publications. Don’t sweat the details! And for those of you who presented at the symposium, it’s just a matter of writing down what you said!
You can find all of the formatting details for newsletter submissions here:
https://www.anoleannals.org/2018/04/25/anolis-newsletter-vii-a-call-for-contributions/
And please send all submissions directly to:
Best wishes
The AN VII Editorial Team
2018 Anolis Symposium team photo in Miami FL!
AA reader Diane Hickey Davis asks: Are there any differences, genetic or otherwise, between the Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) found wild in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida panhandle, Tampa region, and those sold by Carolina Biological supply or PetSmart?
Dear anolologists,
The 31st July deadline for submissions to the Anolis newsletter is fast approaching, and we want to remind everyone that this is an open submission for all contributions!
See this previous post for all information you need on the type of contributions we are looking for!
We particularly encourage all of those anolologists who presented research at the 2018 Anolis Symposium to contribute brief synopses of their talks or posters.
Best wishes
The AN Editorial Team
Submit contributions to: anolis2018@gmail.com
Formatting instructions: http://www.jameststroud.com/uploads/2/6/1/3/26134722/anvii_formatting_instructions.pdf
From the Herping in Cuba Facebook page (with permission).
(Top) A recycle themed community workshop resulted in this amazing anole artwork, designed to spur the recognition and conservation of Utila’s endemic Bica Anole – Anolis (Norops) bicaorum (photographed bottom).
Community engagement and local acknowledgment of important species is essential for effective conservation. On Utila Island, researchers at Kanahau Utila Research & Conservation Facility have been working hard to not only research and document populations of the endemic Anolis (Norops) bicaorum, but also increase community awareness and recognition towards this local lizards conservation plight.
An excellent example and interactive method found to raise awareness is through the creation of art!
Prior to a community based ‘recycle themed’ workshop held on Utila Island, Honduras, staff and volunteers at Kanahau (and other collaborators- Utila Beach Clean-Up, Whale Shark & Oceanic Research Center (WSORC), the Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) and Utila Handmade Co-Op) performed beach cleans with the intention of sourcing suitable washed up plastic materials (i.e. bottle caps, polystyrene, etc), from which to re-purpose and use in our conservation-themed art!
With the kind inspiration, help and guidance of abstract artist Yioula Koutsoubou, we created some conservation-themed murals from the collected plastic materials, inviting children from the local schools to be involved. The event was held and artwork assembled throughout the day at the public park (a prominent location in Utila town), and so many people stopped to watch the artwork progress and ask questions. Overall, it was fantastic to see collaboration between the island NGO’s, as well as children, locals, tourists (people of many ages) attending, all being involved, helping and importantly learning about the conservation issues surrounding Utila’s biodiversity. In addition to the Anole art, a Sea Turtle mural was also created; which is currently positioned for all to see above a small recycle area in town (promoting the importance of limiting disposable plastics/sorting and recycling domestic waste). The Anole Artwork now hangs ‘pride of place’ on the front of the Kanahau Facility (located adjacent to Pumpkin Hill – the site observed with the highest anole abundance). Here (visible to all who pass by on their scenic route up the hill) it serves to honor the populations of Utila’s endemic anoles, whilst spreading appreciation and recognition for the species!
Why make Anole art on Utila? – Preliminary observations and research from the Kanahau facility (funded by MBZ) suggest that populations of Utila’s endemic anoles are substantially threatened owing to the unsustainable expansion and development of agriculture, infrastructure and the tourism industry (see N . bicaorum – Brown et al. 2017; and N. utilensis – Brown et al. 2017). The greatest threat to these species is considered the loss of their primary hardwood forest habitats, of which less and less sadly remains. Environmental education and engagement of the local community with key issues (such as biodiversity decline and the importance of protecting island resources/habitats) is considered essential for successful conservation of these anoles.
* Many thanks to Yioula Koutsoubou, Andrea Albergoni, Daisy Maryon and the many others who assisted with the event that day! A big thanks to all the islands NGOs and workshop collaborators (Kanahau, WSORC, BICA, Utila Beach Clean & Utila Handmade Co-Op ) for organizing and supporting the event!
Anolis carolinensis from North Carolina. Photo by Graham Reynolds.
In response to a previous post on North Carolina anoles, AA reader John Philips asks:
Anyone notice a significant reduction in the population of anoles in SE NC? I live on Bradley Creek in Wilmington, NC and I have noticed very few this year. Used to see 3-5 per day sitting on various surfaces in the sun while walking my dogs, especially because my shihpoo is always “hunting” them. However, this year I probably only see 1 per week.
I assume this could be due to the cold winter? Any other predators that might have reduced the population? We have seen an increase in brown thrashers in the area and thought since they forage on the ground they might be a predator?
What determines species composition on remote Caribbean islands? Geographic proximity to source populations? The vicissitudes of dispersal and colonization? Propagule pressure and prevailing biotic and abiotic environmental conditions? The study of biogeography addresses such questions, and is concerned with understanding the geography of biodiversity- where do species occur and why?
We perhaps often think of species groups accumulating from colonists arriving from the same place, that is, we identify a likely natal source for island colonists. But might species groups be chimeric, in that they contain groups of diasporic species from different natal lands? This is certainly a plausible scenario and could potentially lead to some interesting evolutionary outcomes.
The Cay Sal Bank is a remote island bank, or shallow carbonate platform, on which rests a line of small islands strung out along its margins. This region, as well as our recent expedition, has been mentioned in a previous AA post. Here I am returning to discuss the anoles and the results from our recently published work describing the evolutionary relationships of the terrestrial squamate fauna. Fundamentally, we ask a question that has circulated for the better part of a century: where do the anoles on Cay Sal come from?
Six terrestrial squamates are found on this bank:
Anolis fairchildi (endemic)
Anolis sagrei
Tropidophis curtus
Sphaerodactylus nigropunctatus
Cubophis cantherigerus
Typhlops biminiensis
Dispersal hypotheses for terrestrial squamates found on Cay Sal Bank, from Reynolds et al. 2018
Of these, all but Anolis fairchildi and the recently discovered population of Cubophis were thought to have Bahamian evolutionary affinities. The endemic A. fairchildi has been of particular interest, owing to its status as the product of one of the ex situ speciation events occurring in the green anoles as they dispersed from Cuba (Williams 1969). But a previous AA post (1) reminded us that the origins of Anolis fairchildi had not been resolved- did they come directly from Cuba or are they derived from Bahamian A. smaragdinus (among other alternatives?). Here we tackle this question, using a basic mitochondrial dataset and lots of taxon sampling from previous study of the group (more on A. fairchildi in a future post). We constructed a coalescent gene tree of all “carolinensis-clade” Cuban green anole species, including our samples obtained from Cay Sal Island in 2015. We find unequivocally that A. fairchildi is a recent colonist from western Cuba- nested within the western Anolis porcatus lineage. Thus we see both ancient and recent emigration (divergence) events leading to what we recognize as species in the carolinensis clade of green anoles, setting up a really nice opportunity to examine the accumulation of variation in diasporic populations over different time periods.
Phylogeny of “carolinensis clade” green anoles from Reynolds et al. 2018, with A. fairchildi highlighted in green and shown in the inset photo