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Enlarged endolymphatic glands in two A. lemurinus museum specimens

I’ve been looking through a lot of anole museum specimens lately, and I’ve noticed that many of them have pretty pronounced endolymphatic glands, which made me curious about their prevalence and function in anoles generally.

Endolymphatic glands serve as calcium reserves, and are present in many animals, including a number of reptile and amphibian clades. According to Etheridge (1959), these glands are present in anoles and a few of their close relatives (e.g. Polychrus), but not in any other Iguanians. But it looks like most of the research on their function (in reptiles) has focused on geckos. In geckos, the size of the glands has been shown to fluctuate in response to both stress and reproductive activity, supporting the idea that the stored calcium is used in egg production, both for the yolk and the shell (Brown et al. 1996, Lamb et al. 2017). However, in anoles and geckos, these glands are present in both males and females, so their function isn’t limited to providing calcium for eggs (Etheridge 1959, Bauer 1989, Lamb et al. 2017).

But I haven’t found much information on these glands in anoles. I personally haven’t noticed them in the wild, but so far I’ve found very pronounced glands in 13/66 museum specimens, and some of them are really striking (see photos)! So I’m curious to hear, how often do you other anole-ologists see these enlarged glands? Is there any other literature about their prevalence, seasonality, or function in anoles that I’ve overlooked? Seems like we might be lagging behind the gecko crowd on this topic!

Citations:

Bauer A (1989) Extracranial Endolymphatic Sacs in Eurydactylodes ( Reptilia : Gekkonidae), with Comments on Endolymphatic Function in Lizards. J Herpetol 23:172–175.

Brown SG, Jensen K, DeVerse HA (1996) The Relationship Between Calcium Gland Size, Fecunduty and Social Behavior in the Unisexual Gecks Lepidactyluse Lugubris and Hemidactylus Garnotii. Int J Comp Psychol. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2011.5.6700

Etheridge R (1959) The relationships of the anoles (Reptilia: Sauria: Iguanidae) an interpretation based on skeletal morphology.

Lamb AD, Watkins-colwell GJ, Moore JA, et al (2017) Endolymphatic Sac Use and Reproductive Activity in the Lesser Antilles Endemic Gecko Gonatodes antillensis (Gekkota: Sphaerodactylidae). Bull Peabody Museum Nat Hist 58:17–29.

Two male festive anoles (Anolis sagrei) fighting in Texas. From netscape.net‘s Facebook page.

This is reminiscent of similar battles in Sitana, like the photo below. Of course, we know all about Sitana fights here on AA.

Liam Revell has developed a method, which he explains in Phytools.

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. But what if there’s an anole sleeping inside of it?

Photo by Karen Cusick

Karen Cusick writes on Daffodil’s Photo Blog that she’s never seen anything like this, and neither have I.

Michele Johnson (top) and Manuel Leal (bottom). For more on the Leal lab’s march-related activities, check out the post on Chipojolab.

From the pages of Facebook. Specifically, from Paul Marcellini Photography (check out the beautiful photos on his website). Note that we previously featured another account of a nesting female hummingbird attacking an anole, in this case Anolis stratulus in the Virgin Islands.

here’s a close-up, from Marcellini’s FB page:

I stumbled onto an old video from a past trip that might interest some of you.  Anolis vanzolinii, named after herpetology and samba master Paulo Vanzolini, is a poorly-known species from northern Ecuador.  While this video is not the most exciting–it is only a video of one crawling on a bed–it does demonstrate almost chameleon-like qualities in its movement.  On a trip where we caught quite a few Anolis proboscis, this species still stood out to me as the most interesting.  Hope to see them again sometime!

Steve Arnold, snake biologist extraordinaire, has a secret love of anoles. Or at least he takes pictures of them on his travels. Here are two anoles from Pico Bonito National Park in northwestern Honduras. Anyone know what they are?

Last month I spent a week in Bocas del Toro for a marine invertebrate biology course. However, I made some obligatory terrestrial excursions in search of our favorite vertebrate, the anoles! The habitat surrounding the STRI facility was secondary forest, and anoles were most commonly seen at forest edges. On one tree I found two A. limifrons scurrying about. They both promptly flattened their bodies against the thin branches when they detected my presence. A few seconds later, I noticed that a slightly larger anole was staring right at me from several inches away. I haven’t been able to get a solid ID on this female yet, and I would appreciate any input!