Photo courtesy Fernando Ayala
![checkered maynardi small2[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.anoleannals.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/checkered-maynardi-small21.jpg?ssl=1)
This just in from Pat Shipman in the Little Cayman Bureau:
“Today for the first time, we have seen & photographed a checkered A. maynardi here on Little Cayman. Of all the ones we have seen, green to brown and cold, we’ve never seen one like this before. “
Anolis grahami in the Hellshire Hills
Today, the genus Anolis represents the most common of Jamaica’s reptiles. Indeed, most Jamaican anoles are quite ubiquitous throughout the island, but the abundance of these and other small lizards is misleading. Many of Jamaica’s reptiles, several of which are endemic to the island, are in immediate danger of extinction. Indeed the Jamaican herpetofauna is one of the most threatened in the entire Caribbean and several species have already been lost; Many more are now under threat under threat due to development in Jamaica’s protected habitats.
Map showing the major protected areas and reserves of Jamaica
source: http://inweh.unu.edu/jamaica-mpa/
Over the years numerous protected areas have been established across Jamaica with the intent of preserving its endemic biodiversity, particularly birds, mammals and reptiles. Two of these areas, the Black River Morass and Portland Bight Protected Area, are significant refuges for a large number of Jamaica’s threatened endemic reptiles.
Juvenile American crocodile.Crocodylus acutus. A large population of this threatened species currently inhabits the Black River Morass
Crocodylus acutus. Photo by author
By far the most important nature reserve in Jamaica is the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA) created by the Jamaican government in 1999. It is the largest protected area in Jamaica and spans approximately 1,880 square kilometers of wetlands, coastal mangroves and coastal dry forests, all three of which are important threatened ecosystems. Although the first priority in forming the protected area was to protect the coral reefs found within, it also serves to protect vulnerable and endemic species. The PBPA encompasses the Hellshire Hills and Portland ridge in the parishes of St. Catherine and Clarendon respectively; these are the two largest areas of dry forests remaining on Jamaica and form one of the largest areas of relatively intact tropical limestone forests in entire Caribbean.
The coastal dry forests of the Hellshire Hills, part of the Portland Bight Protected Area.
Source: Joe Burgess’s Flickr page
The PBPA is a reserve for several threatened species of plants and animals and serves as the last refuge for several of Jamaica’s rarest reptiles including the Jamaican iguana, Cyclura collei, which with a global population of 150 lizards is one of the rarest reptiles in the world. The area is also home to the Jamaican skink, Mabuya fulgida, and the small recently rediscovered blue-tailed galliwasp, Celestus duquesneyi, both of which have extremely limited distributions outside of the Hellshire Hills, as well as the endangered Jamaican boa, Chilabothrus subflavus, which is patchily distributed throughout the Island. The PBPA also encompasses several offshore cays including Little Goat island and Great Goat Island; The Jamaican government had plans to eradicate the mongoose as well as the feral goats from the Goat islands after which suitable organisms from the mainland dry forests would be transplanted onto the islands in an effort to preserve the endemic dry forest biodiversity. This plan however seems to have hit a a monumental roadblock.
Ameiva ameiva Photo from Fagner Delfim’s Flickr page
Here at Anole Annals we like to obsess over our favorite lizards, anoles of course, but there are a vast array of other reptilian marvels out there, formidable Cyclurid iguanas, regally patterned Chilabothrus boas and of course the ever wary ground lizards of the Antilles (and elsewhere), the ameivas. Given the ample opportunity for exploration of these seemingly under appreciated animals I have taken my best shot at writing a post concerning ameivas, their morphology, ecology an various other bits and pieces of info I’ve picked up over the years; Enjoy!
The large neotropical genus Ameiva contains roughly thirty-two species largely distributed throughout eastern South America and the Caribbean with a few species extending into southern Central America. Within this genus are some of the most ubiquitous lizards of the neotropics, though due to their incredible swiftness and skittish demeanor it is rare that one ever sees one of these charismatic lizards out in the open for any extended period of time and even rarer that the casual observer may encounter enough of them within a single area to appreciate just how numerous they can be. This rather ambitious post focuses mainly on the biogeography of Ameiva, which in many ways mirrors that of Anolis. Most of the information presented herein comes from a 2012 paper which , among other things, revises the genus Ameiva, recognizing several monophyletic clades and excluding certain species once thought to belong to the genus. More info on ameivas, as well as some amazing pictures, can be found at Father Alejandro Sanchez’s website.
Four geographically coherent clades or species groups have been identified within Ameiva, two of which, the ameiva and bifrontata groups, occur in South and Central America as well as in Trinidad and Grenada, while the remaining two, the dorsalis and erythrocephala groups, are distributed parapatrically throughout the Caribbean. Two additional species, A. parecis and A. concolor remain unassigned to any of these four groups.
The bifrontata group is the smallest of the four clades, consisting of one polytypic species, A. bifrontata, as well as the closely related A. provitaae.
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A. bifrontata
source:http://gallery.surget-groba.ch
This group is almost entirely South American in distribution, occurring in Colombia and Venezuela as well as on the island of Aruba. The clade is thought to share common ancestry with the West Indian Ameiva species and both groups share several defining morphological characteristics the most obvious of which is the presence of mild to intense red coloration on the tip of the snout of most species, a feature shared by no other teiids.
The Caribbean Ameiva form a monophyletic clade thought to be of South American origin
with the South American A. bifrontata species group thought to be sister this one.
If you’re anything like me, the first image you conjure in your mind when you hear the word Jamaica is a phylogenetic tree showing a monophyletic radiation of six Anolis species representing four ecomorph classes and one unique.
What, that’s not what you thought of?
Anolis grahami, a beauty!
The anoles of Jamaica: Read all about them!
1) Anolis garmani is a crown-giant, although it’s on the small end, if you ask me.
2) Anolis grahami is a trunk-crown and gram for gram one of the prettiest anoles out there.
3) Anolis lineatopus is a trunk-ground anole with a stunningly large cream colored dewlap.
4) Anolis opalinus is a smallish trunk-crown nicely found in a Blue Mountains coffee grove.
5) Anolis reconditus is a unique anole – very little known about it (but see).
6) Anolis valencienni is a twig anole, large and at high population densities for a twig.
7) (And yes, A. sagrei is there, but it’s invaded from Cuba over historical time.)
And as always, check out Caribherp for a full list of the herps of Jamaica and the Caribbean!
Earlier this year ,while conducting crocodile (C. acutus) research in Jamaica, I observed some interesting behavior with the Jamaican Twig Anole (A. valencienni). The croc research is conducted at dusk and into the night, which leaves ample time to watch the anoles (during the day) that share our campsite. All of the Jamaican anole species are present at our camp in the Hellshire Hills except A. garmani. The camp is located just off the beach in a sea grape and buttonwood dominated coastal forest.
While lying in a hammock, I watched a female A. valencienni descend a branch toward a tree hollow. As she approached the hollow, I noticed several other females near the entrance hole. I know that it is documented that this species is a communal nester, but to see it was a real treat. During a quick survey of the immediate area (about 20 meter radius), I observed this same activity at two other tree cavities simultaneously. Up to five females were perched outside the cavities, while one or two inspected the entrance. At one of the tree cavities, the females were very wary and during several hours of observation, I noticed that the gravid females entered and exited (after deposition) freely.
At two other cavities, there seemed to be a backup. Females would enter or partially enter, then quickly exit the hole. It wasn’t hard to deduce that something else was occupying the cavity. Even more interesting was that the females at these cavities were not wary, actually completely aloof to my presence. I was curious as to what was preventing their access, so I peered and blew air into one of the holes. As I did this, the females at the entrance which were looking at my face only inches away shifted their attention into the hole. I still couldn’t see anything, so I utilized a flashlight and after doing so, saw that a Croaking Gecko (Aristelligar praesignis) was “blocking” entry and appeared to defend the cavity from intruders. Additionally, I noticed the walls of the cavity encrusted with eggs. Considering the size and shape of eggs, all appeared to be freshly laid or previously hatched Anolis eggs.
I cannot explain the female anoles’ behavior and complete disregard of my presence; even allowing me to touch them (see video).
I had several hypotheses about this behavior; one is that perhaps females worked cooperatively to intimidate the cavity occupier (gecko) at entrance… even enlisting the observer as an ally?
After egg depsition
Before egg deposition
Gecko in cavity (blurry); eye and eyestripe can be seen.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/73496240
What do diseases like Ebola, Influenza, SARS, and Rabies have in common? Well, for one, they’re all viruses. Second, and more germane to this discussion, they’re all zoonoses–diseases that are usually harbored in non-human animal hosts but occasionally spill over into humans. Zoonoses are the subject of David Quammen’s excellent and aptly named new book, Spillover.
http://www.realscience.us/2012/07/30/ebola-virus-spreads-across-uganda/
Quammen is in peak form with Spillover: he tracks these diseases and the researchers who study them from goat farms in Holland to bat caves in Uganda to wild meat markets on the Chinese mainland near Hong Kong. The book reads like a thriller–where exactly is Ebola lurking?– but doesn’t need fictional plot twists to keep the pages turning. Quammen’s accurate, clear, and exiting descriptions of the epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of zoonotic diseases keeps the pages turning instead.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Lesser_short-nosed_fruit_bat_(Cynopterus_brachyotis).jpg
A central message of Spillover is that a “successful” zoonosis is the result of opportunity. That is to say, the life history of many zoonotic agents does not require a pass through human populations; they will survive, reproduce, and spread just fine in their animal hosts. However, if a zoonotic disease happens to find itself in a human body, those viruses (or bacteria, or protozoans, etc.) that can survive will survive, reproduce, and possibly spread to other people. Thus, the story of zoonoses is the story of humans creating the opportunity for spillover by coming into contact with animal hosts. For example, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is closely related to SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) and all evidence suggests that it spilled into human populations through the use of chimpanzees for food. Nipah, a neurological and respiratory disease in Malaysia, Singapore, and Bangladesh, likely spills over into human populations through contact with fruit bat feces, contact that is becoming more common as human cities, towns, and agricultural fields encroach on the tropical rainforests that the bats call home. In sum, close contact with wild animals greatly increases the chance of spillover.
Close contact with wild animals… Close contact… Hmmm, what is it we do again?…
Oh yeah… Uh oh!
Photo by Janson Jones
Who wouldn’t delight in a passel of festive anoles, frolicking around in mid-December? Janson Jones, a raconteur if there ever was, certainly knows how to live for the moment. Check out his latest saurian musings on Dust Tracks on the Web.
In a new film, Anna Lindemann uses predation by Anolis sagrei on a group of beetles to explore the evolution of Batesian mimicry. Anna combines her interests in biology, art, and music to produce animations and live productions that explore processes in developmental biology and evolution.
Anna’s newest release, titled “Beetle Bluffs,” is inspired by the observations of biologist P. J. Darlington. Darlington might be most familiar to blog readers as the namesake for the Haitian anole, A. darlingtoni. In 1938, Darlington published a brief series of experiments examining the consumption of beetles with differing color patterns by A. sagrei. He concluded that Batesian mimicry was likely occurring, in which the color patterns of the inedible Thonalmus beetles are mimicked by several other edible beetle species in order to avoid predation. “Beetle Bluffs” combines stop-motion animation and archival material from Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology to bring life to this story. Enjoy!
Darlington, PJ. 1938. Experiments on mimicry in Cuba, with suggestions for future study. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 87: 681-695.
Anolis desechensis is a member of the A. cristatellus species complex from Puerto Rico. Found only on the tiny island of Desecheo, very little is known about its natural history. In fact, some might question whether it should be a distinct species, but in the absence of any data, it’s hard to say.
This lovely photo comes from the Facebook page of Island Conservation, a wonderful organization devoted–as its name implies–to the conservation of island biota. I just heard a talk yesterday crediting them for eradicating rats from an island in the Galapagos, paving the way for preservation of a unique giant tortoise race. But that’s another story.