They’ve finally arrived in Valdosta, Georgia. Janson Jones reports from the invasion front.
Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.
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Armando Pou
Very interesting information! Does the ground freeze in Valdosta?
After millions of years of separation, I sometimes wonder if A.sagrei isn’t a carrier of some disease or virus that A. carolinensis has no immunity to.
Janson
It gets chilly here during the winter, but we’re only a few miles north of the Florida border. Short of anomalous freezes, winters aren’t too harsh. Can’t speak of the disease/virus scenario, Armando. I suspect in this one little corner of Valdosta, the lack of carolinensis had more to do with competition and the abundance of sagrei-free territory nearby? It could also have been an anomalous observation from just that one day. I need to get back there and see if there aren’t carolinensis in these areas!
Martha Munoz
This is an odd looking sagrei! Do they all have that bold yellow pattern, or is just the lighting?
Janson
Martha, a good number of the males I’ve photographed in Florida (and now South Georgia) *do* have that yellowish pattern. It’s not just lighting or development. With some of them, the yellow is pretty bold, whereas most of them it tends to be a lighter, tannish color of light brown. Definitely a mixed back with the sagrei down here!
Martha Munoz
Whoah! Pretty wild and very exciting.