Anole Annals

Cannibalism is widely known to occur in anoles (also here). We can now add the Central American Anolis limifrons to the list.

photo from https://www.drmartinwilliams.com/lasthunt-html/

We are saddened to note the passing of Skip Lazell, who made seminal contributions to the understanding of anole diversity, biogeography and many other topics. We will especially miss his regular commentary, always in a very supportive way, on many Anole Annal posts.

According to Numi Mitchell at the Conservation Agency, “Skip died on Friday, 30 June 2023. He had Parkinson’s and died quietly of pneumonia after many happy years of retirement and tender care from Wenhua Lu, his wife.  There will likely be a memorial service at some point, but nothing is planned at the moment.”

Research can be a formative experience for undergraduate students interested in STEM fields. Unfortunately, research opportunities can be difficult to identify and engage in for many students, particularly students from underserved communities. Designing courses to include a class research component, commonly referred to as Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), has been suggested as a means of alleviating some of the inequities that can result from missed research opportunities. By implementing discovery-based research projects in undergraduate courses, students that may not have the time or financial stability to be involved in the more traditional model of mentored research are able to engage in the complete process of scientific research, from the conception of the research project through its publication. With these benefits in mind, we sought to integrate a research project on anoles into a Herpetology class (taught by Christian Cox, with help from myself and Noah Gripshover) at Florida International University (FIU).

The Modesto A. Madique campus of FIU hosts a diverse and novel lizard community of non-native species. In general, the lizard communities of South Florida are dominated by introduced species that are native to tropical and subtropical regions around the globe. Anoles from the Greater Antilles are especially common in these novel communities, and despite their ubiquity in the region, relatively little is known about the behavioral interactions that structure these emerging lizard communities. Undergraduate students taking the herpetology class were interested in how behavioral interactions among species might impact the lizard community on campus. First, we conducted surveys that revealed brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) and bark anoles (A. distichus) were the most common species on campus. With that information in hand, we decided to develop a study to investigate both inter- and intraspecific interactions between brown and bark anoles as part of their semester-long CURE.

Throughout the semester, we simulated territorial intrusions by presenting resident brown and bark anoles with unknown male or female brown anole intruders. Note that we did not do the reciprocal experiment (bark anoles intruding on bark and brown anoles) because of time and logistical constraints. This allowed us to compare behavioral responses between these two different species and between the sexes to better understand how behavior mediates community structuring. We also made behavioral observations during these interactions to investigate the role of behavioral displays in escalating aggression.

Our research, published recently in Journal of Zoology, showed that brown anoles were consistently more likely to attack intruders than bark anoles, and that female brown anoles were more likely to attack female intruders and flee from male intruders. In contrast, bark anoles were far more likely to flee when they encountered intruder brown anoles, regardless of the intruder’s sex. We also found that behavioral displays had little bearing on whether brown anoles escalated to combat or bark anoles fled. That is to say, resident brown anoles attacked intruders and bark anoles fled from intruders regardless of whether or not they displayed signs of aggression.

Overall, brown anoles appear to be much more combative than the smaller, (slightly) less abundant bark anoles, and this may, at least in part, explain why brown anoles are often found in such high densities in South Florida. Our work here reveals a likely mechanism underlying the establishment and stabilization of novel communities in highly modified landscapes.

The mechanisms underlying the development of stable communities are often unclear and must be inferred from the observation of contemporary interactions and dynamics. However, the recent introductions of various lizard species in South Florida provides an excellent opportunity to explore these mechanisms as they occur in emerging communities. FIU’s location in the region not only makes it an ideal location to investigate the mechanisms underlying community stabilization, but it facilities the direct involvement and engagement of undergraduate investigators in ecological research.

We also found that this was a fun and effective addition to the laboratory of the Herpetology course. Students told us that they enjoyed the hands-on experience, and seeing how research is planned and implemented. After the course, students were fully engaged as collaborators, providing feedback on analyses and manuscript drafts. Because of this, all students in this class were co-authors on the manuscript, and now have a coauthored manuscript to add to their CV or resume. Of course, we don’t anticipate that these research experiences will always result in a scientific publication (sometimes projects don’t work!), but our goal is to continue developing feasible projects that can be conducted as part of the Herpetology class. We hope to continue these and similar projects to engage undergraduate students in rigorous field ecology that provides valuable and authentic research experiences.

Evolution 2023 is here!

Greetings from the Land of Enchantment, folks! I’m down here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the Anolis beat at the Evolution 2023 conference covering all things anole lizards. We’ve got several great presentations lined up, so if you’re at #Evolution2023, be sure to check em’ out and say hi!

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New community science reports show that the Peters’s Rock Agama (Agama picticauda) is spreading from Florida and has reached the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, undoubtedly carried as stowaways on outbound vessels. A group of Caribbean-based biologists and conservationists are expressing their deep concern because this region is a biodiversity hotpot with thousands of unique, endemic species, over 1,500 of which are already at high risk of extinction.

In their letter to the journal Animal Conservation, the authors identify nearly 50 native reptile species (among which many species of Anolis) that could be impacted if the agama becomes established across the Eastern Caribbean. Given that it is known to capture prey up to at least 5 cm snout-vent length, many species are at risk of being eaten by the agamas; even large native lizards are likely to experience competition and displacement given the agama’s aggressive behaviours.

The authors advise scientists, conservationists, policy makers, veterinarians and border control agencies to be on high alert for incursions by Peters’s Rock Agamas and other non-native reptiles. They further urge the transport sector – especially those operating out of Florida – to be on the lookout for the agama and to take swift measures to remove them.

The letter has been published in Animal Conservation: M.P. van den Burg et al.: The threat of Peters’s Rock Agama (Agama picticauda) to reptile diversity across the Lesser Antilles. Animal Conservation 2023, 12889. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12889

I was recently reminded of the paper by Estrada and Silva Rodriguez on the ecological morphology of Cuban anoles. It was one of the first papers to quantitatively examine differences in morphology among a large and ecomorphologically diverse set of species. It was published in Ciencias Biológicas which can be hard to access, probably accounting for the fact that it hasn’t received the attention it deserves.

The picture and caption say it all. Read the paper by Felipe Espinoza De Janon and Mario Yánez-Muñoz.

Some cool canopy-dwelling anoles.

So little is known about what anoles do high above the ground that information from tree climbing censuses is always welcome. Thomas et al. report on their observations of several anoles tens of meters off the ground in the Chocó region of northwestern Ecuador. 

The familiar name “Dactyloidae” is no more, as “Anolidae” is the taxonomically appropriate nomenclature for the family under the Zoological Code. As a result, all anoles, such as the A. porcatus above, are now part of the family Anolidae.

In a recent paper in Herpetological Review, Kevin de Queiroz clarifies the family nomenclature of the clade containing Anolis lizards.

Kevin has kindly provided the following abstract to Anole Annals for his article below:

Under rank-based nomenclature, Anolis is currently assigned to the family Dactyloidae under the premise that Dactyloidae is the oldest name in the family group based on the name of a genus included in that taxon (even if that genus is not recognized by subsequent authors who recognize the family). The name Dactyloidae Fitzinger 1843 has been considered to have priority over Anolidae, which has been attributed to Cope (1864). However, Cope (1864) is not the original author of the name Anolidae, which was proposed some 28 years earlier by Cocteau (1836) in a publication that has been overlooked by recent authors. Anolidae Cocteau 1836 has priority over Dactyloidae Fitzinger 1843, and therefore Anolidae is the valid (correct) name of the family that contains the genus Anolis. The publication by Cocteau (1836) also establishes that Cocteau, and not Duméril and Bibron (1837), is the author of the species name Anolis loysiana (originally proposed as Acantholis loysiana).

New literature alert!

The Correct Name for the Taxon Ranked as a Family Containing the Genus Anolis under Rank-based Nomenclature and the Author of the Name Anolis loysiana

Check out the full article in Herpetological Review

de Queiroz (2022)