andes – Anole Annals

Adult male, male, female and subadult male

Hey y’all!! Happy Halloween month!

I found a really cool anole, that I know you will all enjoy.

This week we are looking at Anolis dracula, which sadly didn’t get its specific epithet from the vampire, but from the reserve where it was found.

Dracula Anole (top) and Equatorial Anole (bottom). Images from Yánez-Muñoz et al. (2018)

Anolis dracula can be found at ~2200m in the Andes in Ecuador and Southern Colombia, and is very similar in appearance to the Equatorial Anole. It can only be distinguished from Equatorial Anoles, that inhabit the same range, by closer examination of the skull or hemipene, or by genetic analysis. They have a snout-to-vent length of about 70-82mm. Female Dracula Anoles can also have a dewlap smaller than that of the male.

Dewlaps of A) Adult male Dracula Anole, B) Female, C) Subadult female, and D) Male Equatorial Anole. Images from Yánez-Muñoz et al. (2018)

They are also active on the ground, and were caught in pitfall traps as noted in Yánez-Muñoz et al. (2018), where the species is described.

En el marco de mi investigación sobre la Eco-fisiología térmica de Anolis huilae, me encontré (en mi finca) con un par de posturas, una con cuatro huevos y otra con 22 huevos. Este hallazgo me sorprendió, al encontrar diferentes tamaños en los huevos.

Postura de Anolis huilae, Juntas (Ibagué-Tolima-Colombia)

En mi curiosidad por determinar si efectivamente se trataba de huevos de la especie en mención, me di a la tarea de abrir uno para corroborar, encontrando un individuo en un estadío de su formación (el ejemplar fue donado al Laboratorio de Herpetología de la Universida del Tolima).