Author: Juan Salvador Mendoza

Juan Salvador Mendoza

Fundación Kamajorú para la conservación y educación ambiental Barranquilla, Colombia.

Detail of Anolis concolor, San Andres Islas, Colombia; Juan Salvador Mendoza, July 2012.

Anoles (genus Anolis sensu old taxonomy) are one of the most diverse neo-tropical vertebrate groups with more than 200 species. In continental Colombia more than 60 anole species have been registered, including 30 which are endemic (Sanchez et al. 1995). Three more endemic species are known from the insular portion of San Andres and Providencia in the Atlantic Ocean and Malpelo in the Pacific (Sanchez et al. 1995). One of this insular species is A. concolor (Cope, 1836) a relatively medium-sized anole (60-80 mm SVL) that inhabits mangroves and dry forests in the islands of San Andres and Providencia; on the latter island, this species is sympatric with a A. pinchoti which is endemic only to the island of Providencia. In the Pacific, the representative species is A. agassizi from Malpelo Island.

A.concolor. Male, Jardin Botanico, Universidad Nacional, sede Caribe; San Andres Islas, Colombia. Juan Salvador Mendoza 2012

Anolis concolor is a very agile lizard that may use the ground, tree trunks and branches to forage and display courtship and territorial behavior. I observed and photographed several individuals in the “Jardin Botanico, Universidad Nacional de Colombia;” this garden holds more than two hectares of the natural vegetation of the island, tropical dry forest. This lizard can be found in the borders of roads on top of secondary vegetation and can be also found in conserved remnants of mangroves and dry forest. In San Andres this species shares its habitat with a gecko species (Aristelliger georgensis) that may be also found even during the day time in the tree trunks. This is the only anole species in San Andres Island and can be very abundant; I counted 35 individuals in a 1 km forest trail.

Help Identify Dactyloa From Departamento Del Atlantico, Colombian Caribbean

By Juan Salvador Mendoza

On October 16, 2012

In Ask the Experts, Notes from the Field

Photographs from Jaime Palacio Sierra. We are currently reviewing reptiles from our home department and have doubts on two specimens captured by Jaime. can anyone help us confirm their taxonomic identities?

Colombian caribbean Anolis

Notes On Colombian Arboreal Trunk-Crown Anoles

By Juan Salvador Mendoza

On September 4, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Juan Salvador Mendoza R.

Fundación Kamajorú para la conservación y educación ambiental, Barranquilla, Colombia.

I first became interested in arboreal lizards while working on a conservation program that took place in Corrales de San Luis, a “vereda” located in the Municipality of Tubará , department of Atlántico; Colombian Caribbean. One day with my friend Camilo Senior, while performing a day herp search through a permanent transect, he told me: “Just right from here I saw a green lizard that was feeding on termites very high in a Ceiba blanca tree (Hura crepitans).” I had been working in this locality for about four years and had never before spotted something like the lizard he was describing, so we went back to the tree and tried to take a good picture, but it was just too high for a good I.D. (Fig. 1). Those who recognize ceiba blanca´s spiny bark will know why climbing could not be an option.

Figure 1. Anolis biporcatus perched on the top of a Hura crepitans (Euphorbiaceae) tree at a height of eight meters in a dry forest located at Corrales de Sán Luis Beltran, Tubará; Colombian Caribbean, December 2009. Note that there is a termite colony in the opposite side of the branch; this individual was previously observed while feeding on termites.

After this sighting, I was really curious to know the taxonomic identity of this anole species. I had never seen something like it in my home department (Atlántico).

A View Of The Anole Diversity Of The Colombian Caribbean Coast

By Juan Salvador Mendoza

On February 29, 2012

In Notes from the Field

Colombia holds more than 75 species of Anole lizards, making them the second most speciose vertebrate genus in our country next to the frog genus Pristimantis. Most species are shared with other countries of Central America and northern South America, but anoles have diverged in such an incredible way in Colombia that a large number of quite interesting and endemic species occur in the mountain highlands of the Andes, the insular portion of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean and the Chocó and Amazonian lowlands. Thirteen anole species have been registered for the Caribbean region, including lowlands and serranías. Most of these species have not been studied and the remaining habitats are disappearing at an accelerated rate, which is the reason why I find myself motivated to write this note, focusing on one of the least known neotropical lizard biotas.

Anolis Onca a desert sand dweller, Guajira, Colombia. Photo courtesy of Luis Alberto Rueda 2012

Sierra Nevada lonely twig anole. Anolis solitarius from Sierra Nevada de santa Marta (photo by Luis Alberto Rueda)

The Caribbean lowlands are one of the hottest and driest places in Colombia. This region extends from the northern Guajira deserts to the floodable plains of Cordoba. Its interior dominant habitats include seasonal dry forests, desert formations and riparian ecosystems. These habitats have been considered to be threatened by deforestation; only 1% of the dry forest formations still remain, which is why it is considered one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the nation next to cloud forests and paramos. Islands can be those land surfaces surrounded by water or those which have simply been isolated preventing migration of dispersal-limited species such as small vertebrates. Islands as the San Andres archipelago and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have been isolated for thousands of years in such a way that most of the fauna that inhabits them is endemic. Anoles are not the exception; three endemics are registered for the cloud forests of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Anolis santamartae, A. menta, A. solitarius) and two species for the San Andres and Providencia islands (Anolis Pinchoti, A. concolor).