The Carolinensis Anoles of Cuba and Surrounding Islands

Anolis carolinensis from south Florida. Photo courtsey of Neil Losin

Anolis carolinensis, the slender green anole from the southern United States is no stranger to most readers of this blog. This species is a model system for reproductive biology (here), is an emerging model for studies of development and Evo-devo (here and here), and is the first squamate lizard with a sequenced and annotated genome (here and here). Anolis carolinensis is, however, only one member of a diverse clade of lizards, though the natural history of many of these species is poorly understood relative to their popular cousin. Furthermore, the vast majority of carolinensis anoles* are known from few museum specimens meaning that robust descriptions of their morphology remain difficult to obtain.

I have recently become interested in the carolinensis series (for reasons discussed below) and have set out to better understand their biology. This post is meant to introduce readers to the diversity of carolinensis anoles and to put out a call for additional information that may be out there. While I have searched the wires for literature on these species, the community may know of hidden gems that have otherwise eluded me.

1) Species diversity and biogeography

The 13 species of the carolinensis subgroup and their localities are listed in the table below. Though many of these species were described in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the list continues to expand as Orlando Garrido and colleagues explore Cuban biodiversity, uncovering local variants to the more widespread species. Garrido has described four new species of Cuban green(ish) anole in the last 25 years and recent molecular analysis suggests that localized variation may be more common than previously appreciated. For example, Rich Glor and co-authors revealed several independently evolving lineages of A. porcatus that are correlated with Cuba’s geological history of partial island submergence (paper here).

The anoles of the carolinensis series. Specimen counts are based on a survey of the big five anole collections. Click to enlarge.

While several species are geographically widespread (A. porcatus, A. allisoni, and A. carolinensis***), the majority of this diversity evolved on relatively small Caribbean islands or in distinct regions of Cuba.

Anoles Are Organisms Of The Day Down Under

Over at “Catalogue of Organisms: inordinate fondness for systematics,” an Australian site dedicated to biodiversity, anoles are the clade du jour. Maitre d’ Christopher Taylor overcomes his entomological proclivities to write an extensive and insightful overview of anole diversity. Fair dinkum!

If You Want A Lizard To Run Fast, Yell At It

Lizards have become a staple of laboratory studies of locomotion. A standard approach, honed to perfection over 30 years of such work, is to get a lizard to run down a narrow trackway or on a dowel to determine how fast it can run and, in recent years via high speed video, to see exactly how the different limb elements move. Questions that one might ask include whether long-legged lizards run faster than their short-legged compatriots, whether species can run faster on broad surfaces as compared to on narrower supports, or whether the loss of a tail affects sprint speed. In fact, the sort of questions one might ask about lizard locomotion are virtually endless.

These studies have one Achilles heel, however, Most such studies focus on examining maximum speed of the lizard, but how can one ensure that lizards are actually running full tilt? The nagging fear has always been that differences in speed might result not for different capabilities, but rather as a result of differential motivation–some lizards just want it more than others.

But how can one elicit maximal speed or investigate whether a lizard is holding back? One approach to this question was revealed in a recent paper in J. Herp. Jones and Jayne tested whether a loud noise might cause a lizard to run faster and the answer is: yes, when subjected to repeated loud noises, lizards in experimental race tracks do, in fact, run faster.

And just what kind of loud noise? Let’s let junior author Bruce Jayne explain the genesis of the study:

Lizards on the Fence: Book about anoles for kids

A couple of years ago I got interested in photographing the brown anoles in my yard in northeast Florida, where we have lots of anoles. I’m not a scientist–I’m a high school special education teacher–and I didn’t know much about anoles, so I began looking up information and learning about them. I ended up with lots of photos and information about anoles and I decided to put together a little book about anoles for kids. Kids in this area see anoles all the time, and I thought they’d be interested in knowing more about them.

I self-published “Lizards on the Fence” at Blurb and I’ve sold and given copies to other teachers, friends, and neighbors. People have told me that their kids or grandkids will take the book out in the yard and compare the photos to the anoles they see, identifying them as males or females, commenting on their dewlaps, and watching young anoles grow. The 10-year-old son of a staff member at my school told his mother, “Mom, this inspires me! Can I have a camera? I want to write a book too!” Maybe a future herpetologist there!

If anyone would like to see the book, there’s a good-sized preview at Blurb. Here is the link:  http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/603481

I was so happy to find Anole Annals with so much information about anoles! I’m considering going back and working on the book again, revising and adding more photos, so comments are very welcome.

 

Anoles Featured On Project Noah

 

Read all about Project Noah, a citizen science initiative, and their recent good judgment in featuring Anolis.

Back To The Bahamas Again: What Hath Hurricane Irene Wrought?

A year ago, I posted on 20 years of research on anoles in the Bahamas, discussing our current projects: 1. the effects of brown anoles on the ecosystem, and how those effects are altered by the presence of the anole-eating curly-tailed lizard; 2. whether and how brown anoles will adapt to the presence of the terrestrial predators, which forces them to move up into the vegetation, where they must cavort on narrow diameter vegetation; and 3. the effects of an experimental founder effect in which we seeded each of seven islands with a pair of anoles and followed how the populations evolved for a number of years. The first two projects–as well as the methods we use–were discussed here, in one of my finest AA posts, if I do say so myself. The third project led to a paper on founder-effect evolution that appeared two months ago; you can get up to speed on that one here.

Every year we arduously return to the Bahamas to see how the population numbers have risen or fallen, to assess the state of the  ecosystem, and to examine whether the morphology and genetics of the populations have changed.  And so, we head south and east again. But the 800 pound gorilla in the boat concerns what happened last August. Hurricane Irene, which at its peak was a Category IV storm and which gained fame by wreaking havoc all the way to Vermont, scored a direct hit on our study site on Great Abaco Island (also on our newly established study in Staniel Cay, to the south).

We’ve got a history with hurricanes, and it’s not a happy one.

Bermuda Mystery Anole

 

Bermuda has only one native lizard, a skink, but is blessed with three introduced anoles: A. grahami, A. leachii, and A. extremus. Or is that now four? Joe Macedonia is on the ground in Bermuda as I write, and his team of intrepid lizard watchers have snapped this beauty. To me, it looks like a male A. sagrei. Anybody got another idea? Any chance it’s A. grahami, found everywhere in Bermuda?

Anolis grahami on Bermuda. Photo by J. Losos.

If it is A. sagrei, and if this colonizer extraordinaire is firmly established, then how the population expands will be interesting to watch. As documented in detail, A. grahami spread rapidly throughout the island after its introduction in 1905, but the next two invaders expanded much more slowly, the last one to arrive, A. extremus, still having a limited distribution on one end of the island. All of these species are arboreal, however, so it is very possible that the presence of A. grahami inhibited the other two. Anolis sagrei, on the other hand, is much more terrestrial. My prediction is that if a population is established, it will quickly spread throughout the Bermudian archipelago. In turn, for someone moving quickly, this might make a great opportunity to study the ecological and evolutionary consequences of invasion. Will A. grahami populations decline? Will the species shift its habitat use, perhaps with selection to alter its morphology?

Island Biogeography And Population Divergence In The Skyros Wall Lizard: A Just Completed Ph.D. Thesis

Although devoted to all things Anolis, Anole Annals strives to keep its readers updated on relevant findings concerning other lizards. In that vein, we’ve just learned of a newly completed thesis on lacertid lizards on European islands by Anna Runemark at Lunds University, under the supervision of Erik Svensson. Here’s the English summary of her thesis, from this page, and some remarks from Erik here. Her defense is on May 25th. Good luck, Anna!

“Islands are cradles for new biodiversity and provide natural laboratories for the study of population divergence. In my thesis, I investigated the role of different evolutionary processes in the population divergence in the Skyros wall lizard (Podarcis gaigeae), a species where islet populations have strongly diverged morphologies. I used replicate islet populations and their respective most proximate mainland populations to investigate how divergence has proceeded following the isolation of the islets. First, I combined bathymetric maps with sea level curves and molecular inferences based on Bayesian statistics to investigate the biogeographical history of populations. I found that islet populations have become isolated by vicariance following sea level rises during the last thousands of years, and no significant gene flow between populations. To investigate which processes are affecting population divergence, I studied patterns of divergence in coding genetic variation, traits assumed to be under simple Mendelian inheritance, morphological and behavioral traits. A clear pattern of parallel adaptive divergence in the islet environment emerged for traits mainly subjected to natural selection. Islet lizards were larger, greener and less prone to escape. Islet lizards were also less cryptic in their environments than were mainland lizards. Moreover, between-population variation in size and color was larger for islet- than for mainland populations. These patterns are indicative of a predation release. I also found that islet lizards have relatively wider and differently shaped heads as well as a stronger bite force in relation to mainland populations. Data on available food and realized diet suggest that these changes are adaptations to harder island diet. Together these data suggest that predation release and selection for a diet change have interacted and jointly driven the evolution of larger body sizes on islands.

No general pattern of parallel divergence was found for traits subjected primarily to sexual selection. Instead, divergence in throat color morph frequency and sex pheromone composition were significantly correlated with neutral genetic divergence. This indicates that stochastic processes such as genetic drift have contributed to divergence of these traits. I also investigated if mate preferences for pheromones, throat color and body size could be driving population divergence. I found no population differences in preferences for throat color and body size, suggesting that mate choice does not drive divergence in these characters. Islet populations did, however, prefer scent from islet lizards, whereas mainland lizards were less discriminatory. This implies that there could be some mate discrimination against mainland lizards that disperse to islets. 

Anoles As A Harbinger Of Spring

Read all about it here.

Best Binoculars for Anole Gazing?

Having recently lost my trusty pair of binoculars, I’m searching for a replacement before heading to the field this summer. My original binoculars were bought for the express purpose of watching monkeys, but now that I’m spending my days observing anole behavior it’s time to reconsider what makes for a good pair of binocs. So far, I’ve received one important piece of advice: make sure that the close focal distance is as small as possible (definitely less than 10 feet, and less than 6 feet is even better) so that you can zoom in on nearby lizards. And, of course, they need to be waterproof/fogproof against the tropical environs! Specific recommendations so far have included the Eagle Optics Ranger and the Nikon Monarch.

So, what is your favorite pair of binoculars? Any tips or advice on what makes a good pair of herping binoculars?

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