Photo credit: Rayna Bell

We all know the story of the anole ecomorphs of the Greater Antilles, but to what extent does this pattern extend to the mainland? Does the mainland perhaps harbor unrecognized ecomorphs not found in the Greater Antilles? The Draconura clade on the mainland is most likely descended from a West Indian ancestor after all. Unfortunately, we currently have a much shallower understanding of the ecology of mainland anoles. Jonathan Huie, an undergraduate student at the University of Washington and former REU student with Dr. Kevin de Queiroz at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, presented on his efforts to tackle these questions. Despite some unforeseen technical difficulties, Huie persevered and delivered an excellent talk!

Huie and colleagues utilized the concepts of convergent morphology as a first step to examine this question in the Draconura clade of mainland anoles. They compared various levels of stringency in classification algorithms to examine if mainland Draconura species could be assigned to Greater Antillean ecomorphs or potentially undescribed new ecomorphs. They found that Draconura anoles showed extensive morphological variation, although no species clustered with the more highly derived Greater Antillean ecomorphs such as the twig anoles. Several mainland species could be assigned to existing ecomorphs. However, many species remained unclassified using all classification methods.

Next, Huie discussed evidence for potential unrecognized ecomorphs among unclassified species. Specifically, he proposes a potential “ground” (or “leaf-litter”) associated ecomorph among Draconura anoles which was characterized by relatively longer hindlimbs and narrower toepads. This potential new ecomorph is likely even present in the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola’s own leaf-litter specialist, Anolis barbouri, clusters morphologically with mainland leaf-litter specialists. Huie et al.’s work demonstrates the potentially underappreciated applicability of the ecomorph concept to the diversity of mainland anoles and may have even uncovered a new ecomorph!

Anolis planiceps, a member of the new proposed “ground” ecomorph. Photo credit: Ivan Prates

Latest posts by Mike Yuan (see all)