Anole Annals

New Species Of Chamaeleolis!

On January 15, 2013

AA contributor and anole breeder extraordinaire Veronika Holáňová and colleagues have just described a new species of Chamaeleolis, Anolis sierramaestrae, from–where else?–the Sierra Maestra of eastern Cuba. The species, described in a paper just published in Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemicae, differs in a variety of scalation details from the other five species in this group, and the paper includes a very useful pictorial guide to distinguishing among them.

In addition, check out this nifty x-ray.

Anolis Sagrei Invades Mainland Asia

By Jonathan Losos

On January 14, 2013

In Introduced Anoles, New Research

Who knows how far this fellow’s genes will spread through Asia?

These pages have chronicled the appearance of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei) in farflung places around the globe, including throughout the Caribbean, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Taiwan, among others. A new paper in Nature in Singapore reports a first: an established population in mainland Asia, in Singapore. The site of the invasion, and apparently for now the only locality for the population, is a new park, Gardens by the Bay. As Wikipedia reports, Gardens by the Bay is “an integral part of a strategy by the Singapore government to transform Singapore from a “Garden City” to a ‘City in a Garden’. The stated aim is to raise the quality of life by enhancing greenery and flora in the city.” Like many invasive anole populations, this one probably was founded by stowaway lizards or eggs transported in potted plants, but this is just conjecture.

As a sidenote, as far as I am aware, this paper is the first to implement the new Nicholson et al. anole classification, explicitly citing the paper as rationale for referring to the species as Norops sagrei.

IBS Update: Sub-Fossil Anoles on Anguilla

By Adam Algar

On January 13, 2013

In New Research

Hello once again from the IBS in Miami. As I mentioned in my last post, anole presentations are a little thin on the ground here (though not around the conference centre where, with the help from some locals, we saw sagrei, carolinensis, equestris and distichus today).

I did have the opportunity yesterday to check out the the second of two anole presentations here – a new look at the sub-fossil lizard communities, with a focus on a question familiar to many readers of this blog: What’s the deal with A. pogus on Anguilla?

Has A. pogus ever been on Anguilla? Nope.

The study is being led by Melissa Kemp, from Liz Hadly’s lab at Stanford. Melissa has re-analyzed lizard dentaries from excavations on Anguilla that featured heavily in an anole character displacement versus taxon cycle debate in the early 90s.

By analyzing the size distribution of anole dentaries dating back 10,000 years on Anguilla, Melissa argues that not only is there a lack of evidence for a taxon-cycle involving A. pogus, but that there’s no evidence that A. pogus has occurred (in meaningful numbers) on the island at all! To further test this, Melissa has sequenced a portion of cytochrome b for five specimens thus far, all of which have turned out to be A. gingivinus, with more sequences coming down the pipeline.

Anoles aren’t the only lizards Melissa has uncovered – with Thecadactylus, Ameiva and Leiocephalus all present. Anoles have dominated the fauna in all but the earliest (and sparsely sampled) time slice and Leiocephalus was historically present (but probably not abundant) but disappeared several thousand of years ago and has not reappeared in the sub-fossil record since.

This was my first exposure to sub-fossil analysis of lizard communities and I was definitely impressed. I don’t have a sense of how much similar work there is in the literature (but I’m sure readers of the blog can educate me), but there seems substantial scope to collaborate with zoo-archaeologists to get more specimens and data on past trait variation and anole assemblage composition.

Considered breeding anoles in situ?

By JessicaStapley

On January 12, 2013

In Research Methods

If you are lucky enough to live in the tropics then you can do away with incubators, endless tinkering with temperature, humidity and light regimes and let nature do it for you. I have been breeding A. apletophallus in Panama for almost two years and thought I should share with you my take on breeding anoles “in situ.”

Left: Mesh cages hanging in the shade house. Right: Newly emerged hatchling.

I use a very basic shade house that is situated on the edge of the forest. The temperature and humidity are similar to the forest where the lizards live. In the shade house, the lizards are housed individually in mesh cages that I constructed from pop-up laundry hampers and mesh bags. Each cage is outfitted with three branches and a plastic leaf. Females have a shallow soil plate to lay eggs in, which they happily do. I feed adult lizards every three days and at the same time check for eggs. All eggs are removed and placed in a plastic cup with water and cotton wool, which is then placed inside a ziplock bag. Eggs are “incubated” at ambient temperature (~45 days). When the eggs hatch the hatchlings are transferred to plastic boxes with a mesh lid. These “baby boxes” also contain three small branches and a plastic leaf. Hatchlings and subadults are feed every other day. All lizards are sprayed daily with water. Although there is probably room for improvement, this has been a successful and economical strategy to breeding anoles in the tropics. For anyone who wants more details I have posted this on my webpage under “animal husbandry.”

Where Are The Anoles?

By Adam Algar

On January 11, 2013

In All Posts

Missing anoles? Or missing anole biogeographers?

As you may (or may not) know, the 6th meeting of the International Biogeography Society (IBS) is underway in Miami, FL.

So here I am, in the anole invasion capital of the world, with the Caribbean on the doorstep, and a look through the conference program reveals a paltry TWO talks on our favourite lizards. Contrast this with Martha Munoz’s reports from SICB, with 18 (or so) anole talks. Of course, there’s something to be said for quality over quantity and the two anole presentations here do a good job of flying the flag. Yesterday Jonathan Losos kicked off one of the symposia with a talk on anole traits, function and biogeography (with a smashing blue / yellow colour scheme), and later today I’ll be searching out a poster on anole fossil assemblages (post forthcoming)

Nonetheless, I still can’t help wonder, where are the anole biogeographers? You can’t look through a text on island biogeography, species area curves or adaptive radiation without finding a dewlap. So the question is, are people not doing anole biogeography anymore? This isn’t the case, so it can only be that either the IBS isn’t on the radar, or people choose not to go. Either way, you’re missing out on a great meeting – it’s an excellent opportunity for the anole research community to radiate and reach a slightly different audience.

Amber Geckos From The Dominican Republic

By Jonathan Losos

On January 11, 2013

In New Research

We’ve had a lot of hoohaw in these pages about amber Anolis, but anoles are not the only lizards represented in the Dominican amber fauna. In particular, a number of fine specimens of amber geckos are known from the D.R., as well as from amber deposits elsewhere. One such species is Sphaerodactylus dommeli. Embarrassing as it is to anole aficionados, this specimen has at times been suggested to be an anole, hard as it may seem to confuse such a lowly gecko with something as magnificent as an anole. In any case, Daza et al. have just published a magnificent analysis demonstrating that the specimen is, indeed, a gecko, and providing tips on how to avoid such unwholesome confusion in the future. Moreover, confirmation of the specimens identity will allow it to be used as a calibration point in future molecular studies of Sphaerodactylus phylogeny.

A Tenuously Anole-Themed Public Service Announcement

By Yoel Stuart

On January 10, 2013

In All Posts

Regular readers of Anole Annals will know that, like humans, anoles are parasitized by malaria. It’s a different lineage of malaria specialized for lizards but it is malaria none-the-less.

What readers of Anole Annals might not know, however, is that anoles don’t seem to suffer from the cold, the flu, or whooping cough (not according to a quick literature search, anyways).

These illnesses do afflict humans, however, and this winter season is shaping up to be a serious one. Perhaps you have already experienced this.

Top things to do to avoid getting and/or passing on the flu this season:
1) Wash your hands frequently.
2) Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes.
3) Stay home if you’re sick. Keep your kids home if they’re sick. And encourage your colleagues to stay home if they’re sick.
4) Get your flu shot and your pertussis booster.
5) Encourage your friends to get their shots too. Herd immunity!
6) Develop lizardy super powers that render you invincible.

PS: The flu-shot cannot give you the flu by accident. This is a pernicious myth. The virus particles injected in the flu shot are dead, zapped, kaput. You may feel a little under the weather as your body works to develop antibodies but that’s a whole lot better than getting the actual flu. I felt fine after my flu shot.

Snail Chomping Lizards

By Jonathan Losos

On January 9, 2013

In Natural History Observations

Although Anole Annals is devoted to all things anoline, we try not to be too parochial. In particular, when fascinating items appear in print or cyberspace on other lizards, we try to report them here, especially if they have some relevance to matters anole.

In this vein, we wish to draw attention to an interesting communique that just appeared in Tetzoo, a fascinating site dealing with a wide range of topics, and taxa, concerning tetrapod zoology. The article in question discussed snail-eating in the Australian pink-tongued skink (a rosy version of the blue-tongued variety) and the broad crushing teeth seemingly designed for such a purpose, teeth that are parallelled in a fossil marsupial.

Chamaeleolis teeth from Estes and Williams. Ontogenetic variation in the molariform teeth of lizards. J. Vert. Paleo. 4:96-107.

The relevance to anoles, of course, is that one of our very own, the Chamaeleolis clade, exhibits very much the same trait of snail crushing, as illustrated in a previous post.

Anole Dance Craze From The 1920s

By Jonathan Losos

On January 8, 2013

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt4wsmAdEk8

In the 1920’s, there was a dance as popular as the Charleston, but it was about anoles! Admittedly, it was called the “chameleon,” but clearly it was based on pictures of an anole, and you can evaluate the dance moves yourself to decide if they were more anole- or chameleon-like.

Apparently Luke Harmon, who brought this video to AA‘s attention, is an expert at many of the moves involved in the dance.

Frogs Are Lovers; Anoles Are Fighters – Updates From SICB

By Martha Muñoz

On January 7, 2013

In All Posts

Sometimes anoles are lovers, too. But even when they love, they seem to fight. Photo of Anolis carolinensis taken from Wikipedia.

Greetings again from San Francisco! The anticipation for yesterday’s Animal Communication session was palpable. Usually a big Anolis hit at SICB, the Communication session did not fail to impress. The session was divided into two sections – Lovers and Fighters. Can you guess which one had all the anole talks? Three out of the five talks in the Fighters session were about anoles. Incidentally, most of the talks in the Lovers session were about tree frogs. This was perfectly to my liking – I’ll take the blood, guts, and gore any day. The three Anolis talks presented fascinating new work.

The first was by Jessica Edwards, a graduate student working with Simon Lailvaux at the University of New Orleans on aggressive encounters between Anolis carolinensis and A. sagrei, which has successfully invaded much of A. carolinensis‘ range. In a previous study, Jessica and Simon found that A. carolinensis tends to perch higher in the presence of A. sagrei than when found alone. For her experiment, Jessica placed one male of each species into a large cage with a single perch. At the top of this perch she placed a heat lamp, so that there was one optimal site (warm top) and one sub-optimal site (cool bottom) on the perch. She then scored behaviors and recorded the victor in each trial. She found that relative dewlap size was a good predictor of trial outcome, and that the each species was about equally successful at obtaining the optimal perch, although A. sagrei did have a slight advantage. She repeated this experiment using females of each species, and found something exciting and perhaps unexpected – Anolis sagrei was the clear victor in all but one of several dozen trials! Jessica posits that, in the wild, female A. sagrei push female A. carolinensis higher up in the trees. In polygynous systems such as anoles, where one male defends a group of two or more females, then we would expect the males to go where the females do, and so would expect males to increase their perch heights, as well.