Curly Tail Lizard Attempts to Consume Anole

Leiocephalus macropus attempts to consume a juvenile A. jubar in southwestern Cuba. Photos copyright R. Glor 2000.

Anole Annals has a long, gut-wrenching history of posting photographs of our favorite lizards being consumed (or at least partially consumed) by other organisms, including snakes (1, 2, 3), birds (1, 2, 3), other anoles (1, 2), a frog, a spider, and even a plant.  As far as I can tell, however, we have yet to post any images of anoles being eaten by one of their fiercest predators across the northern Caribbean: Curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalus).  Curly-tails are notorious anole predators and can have a profound impact on anole abundance and behavior (see for, example, Losos et al. 2004).  The photos above were taken in southeastern Cuba and show Leiocepalus macropus killing and attempting to eat a juvenile Anolis jubar.  Manuel Leal initially spotted the Leio plucking the young anole off a tree trunk.  Although the Leio successfully killed the anole and got it part way into its mouth, it seemingly wasn’t able to swallow its intended prey (at least not until we interrupted the event).

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Rich Glor

Latest posts by Rich Glor (see all)

• JMIH 2014: Early Records of Fossil Anolis from the Oligocene and Miocene of Florida, USA - August 13, 2014
• JMIH 2014: Relative Contribution of Genetic and Ecological Factors to Morphological Differentiation in Island Populations of Anolis sagrei - August 7, 2014
• JMIH 2014: The Ultrastructure of Spermatid Development within the Anole, Anolis sagrei - August 5, 2014