The relatively sparse anole holdings of the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates.
I recently asked which museums have the largest holdings of anoles. I’ll now ask the obvious next question: which species are most represented in these museum holdings? Shouldn’t be much of a surprise: the first five species I checked were, indeed, the top five. But I’ll give one hint: the top five in Al Schwartz’s collection at the University of Kansas are not the top five overall.
So, who can name the top five, and in the correct order? And a bonus question: which species is number six?
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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geneva
Does your list match up with mine from December?
Jonathan Losos
Not exactly! Apparently, there’s been a substantial number of specimens added between when your list was compiled and when I made mine, in mid-March.
Skip Lazell
Very interested to know but cannot guess. I guess the one I collected most of would have been marmoratus, but dunno how many “species” that is today…. Skip
Jonathan Losos
Skip, despite your best efforts, my survey puts marmoratus at no higher than #10 (and possibly less if I didn’t think to check other species with more).
Martha Munoz
Skip – I’ve worked with your marmoratus! And I’ve added a few adult males of my own. But I doubt it will swell the totals enough to make it to the top 5.
If you insist that A. cybotes is not in the top five because it was in Schwartz’s top five, I’ll have to relent, but I thought it would be on that list for sure!
My list:
A. carolinensis
A. limifrons
A. cristatellus
A. oculatus
A. roquet
J James
A. brevirostris is on the Schwartz top five list, but not in the museum top five (16th).
Including subspecies, but excluding Anoles still catalogued Norops:
sagrei 14581
carolinensis 9548
distichus 9156
cristatellus 7800
cybotes 7686
limifrons 4125
roquet 3327
lineatopus 3158
oculatus 2788
pulchellus 2649
grahami 2607
marmoratus 2512
chlorocyanus 2399
nebulosus 2321
coelestinus 2138
brevirostris 2136
auratus 2124
sericeus 2102
aeneus 2074
fuscoauratus 2007
Jonathan Losos
Indeed, you nailed it! I, for one, would not have guessed limifrons to be in the sixth slot–nice job by Martha in calling that one.
Skip Lazell
Cool: Thanks! Skip
Martha Munoz
D’oh! Lineatopus. Shoulda known it would be top 10.
Trunk-grounds galore, says I. As it should be.