The fabled gray dewlapped anole. Photo by Harry Greene
Harry Greene and Jed Sparks lead a two week graduate field trip to Florida. While there, they espied the lizard shown above in the Corkscrew Swamp near Naples, FL. Here’s what Harry had to say: “Jed Sparks, the other instructor, initially said “green” after I’d told him to expect pink, and that was the first of the two we saw–I got only a glimpse of the partly protracted dewlap and no photos of that one. Second animal I got 3-4 images of separate dewlap expansions, and can say that through binos they looked pale green, but when I look at the images I see white scales and gray or green interscalar skin, not sure which! In any case, I can tell you almost exactly where I saw each of them, and they were on the same first half stretch of the ~2 mi boardwalk, in each case in well lit sites on the outer edge of swamp proper.”
Note that Macedonia in his 2003 paper referred to the dewlaps of these species as “greenish-gray.” Gray-dewlapped green anoles are known from southwestern Florida, but have been little studied. The seminal work is Macedonia’s aforementioned study, that concludes: “Can a functional explanation account for the greenish-gray dewlap color in A. carolinensis from southwest Florida? Pale dewlaps are most often seen in shade species, and white dewlaps usually are restricted to deep forest anoles where light levels are very low (e.g., Fleishman, 1992). The habitat of our SW population consisted primarily of coastal mangrove, which was anything but dark forest. We realize that this habitat is not representative of forest away from the coast, and it also could be quite different from the ecological setting in which the gray dewlap evolved. The absence of a reddish dewlap in the SW population cannot be attributed to some visual pigment anomaly, however, because these pigments and associated oil droplets do not differ from those occurring in ‘‘typical’’ A. carolinensis (E. Loew, pers. comm.). As we have shown, the bright green dorsum coloration of this population also is unique and contrasts more strongly with the visual background than does its greenish-gray dewlap color. We are unaware of any functional advantages these dewlap and dorsum colors might bestow on the SW population, and we remain open to the possibility that they may be retentions from an ancestor unshared with other A. carolinensis populations.
Christman (1980) concluded that the distribution of gray throated A. carolinensis in southwest Florida lacked any ecological or historical pattern with which he was familiar. Results of the present study likewise suggest that dewlap coloration in this population is unrelated to characteristics of the ambient light in locations where we found these anoles. A spectrometric investigation of coloration and habitat light variation that is focused on the SW population (and its surrounding “hybrid zone’’: Christman, 1980), in addition to a molecular phylogenetic study of the carolinensis complex, might ultimately lead to a better understanding of the origins and persistence of gray throated A. carolinensis in southwest Florida.”
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Liam Revell
We found grey dewlapped Anolis cristatellus at a very low frequency (3 in about 1500 animals captured) on Vieques. Here are two photos. First, from 2007, here; and second, from 2008, here. The latter animal is still alive in captivity and we are presently attempting an F1 backcross with his progeny. (For comparison, here is a phenotypically normal A. cristatellus dewlap.)
James Lazell
They also occur on the Gulf Islands of Mississippi. Check barrier islands between MS and S FL…. Skip
Janson
John Sullivan has a number of sightings/photographs (with the dubbed trinomial A. c. seminolus) featured on his wildherps website here: http://www.wildherps.com/species/A.carolinensis.html. Locations include Fakahatchee Strand (Collier county), Oscar Sherer State Park (Sarasota county), and Corkscrew Swamp Wildlife Sanctuary (Collier county) — all in Florida.
Elsewhere, Jake Scott posted an observation on Flickr from Sarasota county this past January (also under the trinomial monicker A. c. seminolus) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tamers1/6752058019/.
Personally, I’ve never seen a gray-throat in central or north Florida, much less in southern Georgia. I’ll hopefully be heading down to Corkscrew fairly soon and will definitely be on the lookout!
~ janson
Amber Wright
White, gray, and lavender dewlaps are common in A. carolinensis on Oahu, Hawaii.
Neil Losin
This past summer, my field assistants noticed a male A. carolinensis with a similar dewlap coloration (very pale gray / white, no trace of pink) on the west side of Snapper Creek in South Miami. They observed it on several occasions (it was not marked, but it was likely the same male on each occasion because it was always seen within a 5-10m radius), and I observed it once, but we were never able to capture it or get a photo. I have not seen this coloration on any other male A. carolinensis in the Miami area, though.
Armando Pou
Neil, do you have a cross street address from Snapper Creek for that sighting? I’d like to check the area out. Maybe it’s a new introduction or hybrid.
Martha Munoz
Does anyone have an idea of how common grey-dewlapped anoles are in A. porcatus? If it happens in A. carolinensis, my guess is that it should happen in A. porcatus, too.
John Rahn
I have a lizard on my patio here in Hobe Sound, Florida with a white dewlap. When I first saw him, I thought it was a typical Florida Anole, but now I am wondering. He seems to be lighter-colored all over with the same basic body shape.
First time in 25 years of living here that I’ve seen one like this.
Armando Pou
John, that looks like an original Anolis distichus floridanus; it has become rarer in Miami because they have hybridized with Anolis distichus dominicensis in most locations (the dewlap will have varying amounts of orange in addition to the pale yellow-white). Maybe up in your neck of the woods floridanus is holding its own.
Anthony Geneva
I was an intern at Jonathan Dickinson State Park about 10 years ago and saw a couple of distichus like yours, but on the south end of the park in Jupiter. Not sure I ever saw one as far north Hobe Sound. Are you East or West of Rt 1?
As part of my dissertation, I am working on determining the relationships among this group. I’d be interested to hear if you see more of them in your neck of the woods.
John Rahn
Anthony… posted a couple of pics.
I am just east of U.S. 1, in Hobe Sound.
Anthony Geneva
Hi John,
Thanks for the reply. Great pictures! At some point I need to get back down to the area and do a proper search for Florida distichus. It’s very interesting you’ve got them on your side of Hwy 1, habitat that is pretty scrubby compared to the wet flatwoods to the west. I’ll have to take a look around the Hobe Sound NWR. Feel free to send more pictures if you like. My email is my firstname.lastname@rochester.edu.
John Rahn
Finally got a couple of pics of the two, hanging out together. The female looks a little… “plump” … possibly pregnant?
Did you get the pics that I sent?
geneva
Very likely she is gravid. She can produce an egg about every 10 days. In the lab, females can lay 15 eggs a year.
Also, I did get your photos. Sending you an email reply momentarily.
John Rahn
Oops.
Mistyped my last name in that last post.
Fat fingers?
John Rahn
Anthony, this is one of only two that I’ve seen here on my porch.
(coloring may be a little over-saturated)
John Rahn
A couple of other shots of him/her (I have a bunch of them).
John Rahb
Anthony, APOLOGIES…
I just now saw your response, and question.
I am just east of US 1.
There are two, that I’ve seen, of this species that hang out on my porch. I have a couple of other pics, but my iPhone won’t let me upload them here. I’ll have to wait ’til I get back to my computer.