Photo by Humberto Bahena Basave
Hey guys! As an international student and considering what’s happened recently, it’s been tough. But having happy things is really important right now and anoles are exceedingly wonderful lizards, I’m sure we all agree here. So I’m still going to do #DidYouAnole this week because I love doing it.
And we are continuing with the A. carolinensis series.
There are 13 species in this proposed group of anoles and they are all morphologically similar, so we’ve got a few more pointy headed anoles coming up. This week is Anolis allisoni, one of my favourites and it’s because of the blue mostly if I’m being completely honest. Look at it! Most of them look like they’ve been dipped in paint!
(Please don’t dip lizards in paint!)
Photo by Christopher Hampson
Anolis allisoni, also called Allison’s anole or the Blue-Headed anole, is found in Cuba where all anoles in this series are thought to originate from. It’s also found on the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos (Honduras), and Half Moon Caye (Belize). And guess where else they’ve been spotted now. I feel like I actually will go to Florida when the world is OK because it seems like 300 of the 436 recognised anole species live there now.
Anolis allisoni is capable of changing from green and blue to brown like A. carolinensis, and pretty quickly too. Only the males have this blue colouring and pink dewlaps, and the amount of blue varies by individual, as well as by population it seems, with those in Honduras having less blue than other locations. Like A. carolinensis, the females have smaller, more proportional heads, but they don’t have the white dorsal stripe that Green anole females tend to. Males typically have an SVL (snout-to-vent length) of 10cm, while the females are about 7-8cm.
Look at that little bit of pale blue on this A. allisoni compared to the intense blue on the first! (Photo by Christian Grenier)
And then this individual has his blue like racing stripes! (Photo by Shea Lambert)
Most female anoles lay their eggs in the dirt, and West Indian anoles follow a reproductive cycle where a period of inactivity aligns just about with colder months (October – February). Anolis allisoni however is one of the six species in Cuba that we know of to have communal nests, where all the females lay their eggs together! How cool is that!
They are also really good at pretending to be grass apparently. Check this older post and see how many you can find. I think I found the 5 Dr. Losos says there should be. For those of you that follow #FindThatLizard, I know Earyn didn’t have a challenge on this Wednesday, so maybe this can help!
Thanks for reading!