Tag: anoles

Dan Nicholson at SICB 2020

Evolution has long thought to be a slow process, taking thousands if not millions of years. Recently, there has been a paradigm shift in how scientists think about evolution. We now know that we can observe evolution on a contemporary timescale, observable to the human eye. Dan Nicholson, a Ph.D. Candidate at Queen Mary University of London in Rob Knell’s lab, is working with Mike Logan and others to observe the effects of habitat change on the evolutionary ecology of Anolis apletophallus.

Dan and his team transplanted anoles from the mainland of Panama to several islands around Barro Colorado Island in July of 2017. Before release, they recorded the anoles’ morphological characteristics, including hindlimb and forelimb length, toe pad size, and head depth, and well as characteristics of their perch location, including height and width. Tracking changes in these characteristics can detect natural selection at work. At SICB 2019, Dan reported the results of the first generation of island anoles.

At SICB 2020, Dan included the trends of the second generation of island anoles. The preliminary results indicate the island anoles have continued to use wider perches than the mainland anoles. However, the majority of the island anole morphological traits now align with the mainland anoles. The exception is that hindlimb length of the island anoles decreased, while the mainland anoles hindlimb length has increased.

Some potential causes of these results, Dan speculates, include genetic drift due to the small population size. The islands started with a robust number of anoles, but over the two years of this study, their numbers have rapidly dwindled. Another possibility is the island anoles are aligning with the mainland anoles morphologically due to gene flow. In the future, Dan wants to further analyze the preliminary results from a population angle, looking at changes in groups of traits instead of individual traits.

You can learn more about Dan’s research by following him on twitter.

Nomenclature of Dactyloidae: Revisit and Opinions Wanted

By Scott Thomson

On October 1, 2018

In All Posts, New Research

Hi everyone. I recently received and have to determine what to do with the following paper (editor’s note, for background, see this recent post):

Nicholson, K.E., Crother, B.I., Guyer, C., & Savage, J.M. 2018. Translating a clade based classification into one that is valid under the international code of zoological nomenclature: the case of the lizards of the family Dactyloidae (Order Squamata). Zootaxa 4461 (4): 573–586. DOI:10.11646/zootaxa.4461.4.7

As an administrator and bureaucrat at Wikispecies I have to decide how to proceed with this group of reptiles. I have made a tentative start here but please realize this is a simple start easily undone.

I recall the last time this came up, in 2012. I joined the discussion at the time. However, despite my comments at the time, I did not follow splitting the genus up then. In the end, my view is for stability and consensus. By stability, I mean the actual meaning of stability under the ICZN code, which does not apply here. But consensus could.

Why is this paper different? Well, first up, last time it was a PhyloCode paper and as such is relatively easy to ignore, as it does not submit to the rules of nomenclature. However, this time it is an ICZN compliant paper so you cannot ignore it. As stated many times, names are to considered as valid on publication or refuted–there is no ignore. So the above paper may be refuted, but not ignored.

Last time, many argued that the genus is monophyletic. This is not really an argument against splitting. It’s a position statement. The order Testudines is also monophyletic, should every turtle species (275 living species) all go back into the genus Testudo? The current genera or lack of them present are only a reference to the history of research. It does not mean it is the most suitable arrangement.

More importantly is diagnosibility. Can the new proposed genera and their inherent species be adequately diagnosed? This is a more important question.

Note that a genus with some 500 species is generally considered too big. Many writers over the years have deemed between 100-200 species about the maximum size wanted. However, this does still need to address the previous point on diagnosibility.

Another point people brought up last time was stability. Well, stability actually refers to the mononomial and whether a name can be replaced by a forgotten name. It is used as a reason to reverse priority. This is the code purpose of stability. Note that the combination first up does not have to be stable, and second is a taxonomic decision, not a nomenclatural one. Hence outside the code.

So what I am after: Basically I want to see through any commentary if the people who work on anole’s are likely to use this new nomenclature. If they are, I will adopt it at Wikispecies. That will require the moving and reorganisation of some 550 pages. I do not take that on lightly. Hence I am asking you, the people who work on anoles, first. My decision will be based on the answers I get. I do not work on anoles. I am a turtle and tortoise specialist. But I do have a job to do at Wikispecies.

For your information, I have discussed this briefly with Peter Uetz at Reptile Database also. He also was not sure what to do, but remembered the last time it came up here. So I am reaching out to all of you on this issue. I am after consensus, not stability. As I said, stability does not apply here. But I will say that to reject the nomenclatural proposals of Nicholson et al. (2018) does require a refutation. They have presented to science in good faith in a very good journal, Zootaxa. We cannot ignore this and as a taxonomist, I will not.

In advance, I thank everyone for their comments. I think this issue needs to be openly debated.

Please Help Me Identify Some Anoles and Other Cuban Lizards

By Luca Boscain

On January 20, 2017

In All Posts, Anole Photographs, Ask the Experts

Hello to everybody, I’m an italian naturalist that visited Cuba last December 2016.

I’m mainly a birder, but I like to give a name to all the creatures I meet. So, I’m going to post 20 pictures of lizards photographed in Cuba: for some I have hypotheses about the identification, but I need confirmation. For some others, I’m completely lost!
Can anybody help me??

Colors And Shapes Of The Horned Anole

By Lucas M. Bustamante-Enríquez

On May 13, 2013

In All Posts

Ecuador’s most wanted! This lizard was thought to be extinct for nearly fifty years, and still after its “rediscovery” in 2005, it remains hard to locate.

Most records of Horned Anole are in disturbed areas, including near roads vegetation, botanical gardens and bamboo trees.

It took me more than two years of constant visits to Mindo, a cloud forest-town in the Western Ecuadorian Foothills, to meet with the Horned Anole (Anolis proboscis)! I always felt it was a mythological reptile, not only for Ecuadorian herps but throughout the world. Has anyone seen a lizard with a long appendix on the tip of his nose, a wide color throughout the body, prehensile tail and even spines on the back? It is difficult not to speak mystically when we refer to Horned Anole.

For over 50 years it was listed as “Possibly extinct,” until 2005, when a group of Ecuadorian scientists “rediscovered” it. But it was not until two years ago when the global and local Anole experts, led by Jonathan Losos, Steven Poe and Fernando Ayala, started several expeditions to investigate everything about its morphology, phylogeny and natural history.

Its tail is prehensile and is possibly used to embrace the branches when it sleeps.

The Horned Anole is a diurnal and slow-moving lizard that usually is found perched between 4-8 meters above the ground. Although most records are in vegetation on roadsides, highways and near open areas can be very difficult to find due to their excellent camouflage that blends perfectly with twigs full of mosses, lichens and epiphytes, perfectly rhyming its colorful skin.

But what use their proboscis? Sexual selection and defense of territory are the first hypotheses that leap to the mind. Science will tell us soon! But even that, we are left to enjoy its beauty and unparalleled mystique.

Definitely its silhouette is unmistakable. His sharp proboscis distinguishes it from all Ecuadorian lizards.

It can be difficult to find. Not only because they are commonly perched on high branches, but also for their camouflage, forming an ideal combination with branches and colorful leaves.

It is slow-moving and spends most of its time 450–800 cm from ground and feeds on a variety of arboreal arthropods.

Anolis proboscis sleeps on horizontal twigs and leaves (juveniles seem to prefer lower perches).

3P QuickCureClay Demo Video (With More Anole Sculptures!)

By SPrindaville

On December 18, 2012

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor, Anoles in Commerce

In my last post, I discussed my use of a new polymer clay, 3P QuickCureClay, in sculpting anoles. Several commenters were interested in learning more about this medium and its potential for making models to assess predator marks.

I’ve now created a demonstration video of the clay which displays its unique properties and versatility (plus, newly finished anole sculptures make an appearance!):

Shelby Prindaville’s Anole Artwork

By SPrindaville

On November 18, 2012

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor, Anoles in Commerce

Watercolor drawing by Shelby Prindaville

Shelby Prindaville, Polychrotidae (Heatstack) detail, watercolor and pencil on paper, 30×22″, 2011

My watercolor drawings and figurative sculptures feature a variety of Anolis lizards. The visually fascinating characteristics of anoles combined with their small size yet reptilian “otherness” (occupying a middle ground between too-easily-anthropomorphized mammals and too-alien fish or invertebrates) make anoles an ideal animal representative for my broader ecological interests.

Shelby Prindaville, Anolis proboscis (Pair), watercolor, 3P art medium, and pencil on translucent paper, 16×24″, 2012

The drawings and sculptures I create with anoles use their innate character and abilities to explore a purgatorial space. The first drawing in the watercolor series puts anoles in place of rats in the rat king myth made famous in The Nutcracker; the use of anoles allows a way out of the diseased mass through voluntary autotomy and allegorically demonstrates that repairing environments requires sacrifice. Other drawings pull from subjects ranging from the Ouroboros to Terry Pratchett’s allegory of summer.

Shelby Prindaville, Anolis carolinensis and Mimosa Pudica (Falling), watercolor and pencil on velvet paper, 27×19″, 2012

My desire to sculpt small yet still anatomically accurate anoles has actually led to the development of a new polymer medium: 3P QuickCure Clay. I collaborate with LSU Chemistry Professor John Pojman and his company 3P, and my suggestion to create a clay and its subsequent development has allowed me to use a batch-curing process that achieves the intricately detailed results below.