Tag: Anolis proboscis

I think we may have to move #DidYouAnole to Fridays since that seems to be the better for me post recently.

And speaking of this week’s post I remember mentioning that there were other anoles with little rostral appendages and that I hadn’t gotten back to them.
(A shame it took me so long because they really are great anoles)

Anolis phyllorhinus, or the Leaf-nosed anole, is endemic to central Amazonia in Brazil (where I believe they’re called Lagarto papa-vento in Portuguese) but they are an uncommon sighting. They’re a great shade of leaf green, with pale green-white undersides. Like with Anolis proboscis, these anoles’ appendages are also flexible and possibly used to display.

The eponymous leaf nose is only present in the males, with female Leaf-nosed (or Bat) anoles not even having any swelling or prominence of their noses. Female Leaf-nosed anoles also have a greatly reduced white dewlap, while the males have a larger one that is bright red on the front half and blue-green or white toward the neck.

The SVL of a Leaf-nosed anole is about 71-85 mm, excluding the proboscis which itself varies from 20-23 mm in measured specimens.

#DidYouAnole – Anolis proboscis

By Chelsea Connor

On November 19, 2020

In All Posts

Photo by Osoandino, iNaturalist

This week’s anole is one of three recorded species of anoles with a proboscis, the Pinocchio Anole, or Ecuadorian Horned Anole. The other two proboscid species being Anolis phyllorhinus and Anolis laevis.

Anolis proboscis has been featured on this website several times and is well loved here, so you may already know that only the males have the proboscis.
They are capable of raising and lowering their appendages and use it for attracting mates. They move their heads side to side in displays referred to as ‘proboscis flourishing’ (Quirola et al. 2017). Males also stimulate females during courtship, by rubbing the nape of their necks with the appendage. The horn can’t be used as a weapon for fighting other males as it is very flexible, capable of folding right over (Losos et al. 2012), but they display their horns during these interactions, raising them, most likely to appear larger and more intimidating to the rival male. Their dewlaps are small, which is common in anoles with other physical signals, but more research is needed into the uses of the appendage to further confirm its uses.

Female Pinocchio Anole, photo by Nelson Apolo, iNaturalist

Journal of Natural History, 2017

The Pinocchio Anole males, unlike other proboscid anoles, are born with a small horn. Why do they have the horn so early? We don’t know… yet!

This anole is very hard to find, actually even being assumed extinct after going unseen by locals and visiting scientists alike, after specimens were collected in 1966, until accidentally being spotted by a birdwatching group in 2005 when a male crossed the road. They typically prefer dense vegetation but on occasion may be found active on the ground. Pinocchio Anoles are endangered, and only found in the protected forest reserves that make up their range in Ecuador, where they are endemic.

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.