Author: Jonathan Losos Page 122 of 130

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.

Introduced Herps of the Caribbean

By Jonathan Losos

On May 14, 2011

In Introduced Anoles

The knight anole, Anolis equestris, gets around more than you might think. Photo by Neil Losin.

A new, two-volume set on the conservation of Caribbean herps has just been published. More on that in a minute, but let’s cut to the important stuff. There’s a great summary of the record of anole introductions (discussed previously a number of times on Anole Annals, such as here, here, here and here) in an article by Bob Powell and others. Here’s what they have to say about anoles:

“Anoles (family Polychrotidae). Anoles are highly diverse (Losos, 2009), quite adaptable, and often function as human commensals. Many species in the region exploit buildings, ornamental plants, and the night-light niche (e.g., Henderson and Powell, 2001, 2009; Perry et al., 2008; Powell and Henderson, 2008). Some are colorful and available in the pet trade (e.g., Kraus, 2009), but nearly all introductions within our region were inadvertent and attributable to stowaways in cargo such as building materials and ornamental plants.

Anolis cristatellus is native to the Puerto Rico Bank and was the only anole that made the list of most successful colonizing species (Bomford et al., 2009).

Poll: What Is This Contraption For?

By Jonathan Losos

On May 13, 2011

In Research Methods

Good work Anole Annalers! For the answer, go here.

Famous Anolis Painting

By Jonathan Losos

On May 11, 2011

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor

Name that lizard.

Mark Catesby was a famous wildlife artist who preceded Audubon by 100 years. He is best known for The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas Islands, which is the subject of an article, “Catesby’s Gallery: A Trailblazing Naturalist in the New World,” in the February, 2011 issue of Natural History magazine. The article has reproductions of a number of his paintings, mostly birds, but also plants a crab and… “in a whimsical painting, Catesby shows a Jamaican Anolis lizard, splay-legged and getting a toehold on leafy sprigs of a mainland tree, the sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua).” Elsewhere, the article comments that the pairing of the Jamaican anole with a Carolina sweet gum was “seemingly random.” More importantly, what is the anole? My guess is a female A. garmani. But, the color might also be consistent with an A. grahami aquarum. Thoughts?

(p.s. Thanks to Pops for pointing out this article to me)

They Don’t Eat Butterflies, Do They?

By Jonathan Losos

On May 10, 2011

In Natural History Observations

Photo by Larry Ditto. http://kacproductions.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Reptiles-and-others/G0000aYUEKKoWeyY/I00001RHu91IeOnI

Recently, a colleague and I were discussing how university greenhouses could be more profitably used if they were filled with anoles. This led us to discussion of one particular local greenhouse, full of butterflies nattering about for no apparent purpose. I suggested that this would be a particularly good spot to introduce some anoles, because food would be at the ready, but she questioned whether anoles would, indeed, eat butterflies. I claimed they would, and she back-pedaled, stating that surely A. carolinensis at the least was not swift enough for such a feat.

Neither of us knowing the answer, we decided that some research must be done, so quickly moved to the computer. One quick Google Image search proved her wrong on all counts. Above is the most beautiful of the counterpoints, and here is the story that goes with it, from photographer Larry Ditto of McAllen, Texas: “What can I say? I walked out into my front yard where there is a butterfly garden and saw this anole eating a queen. The lizard was climbing an arching trellis with the butterfly in its mouth. I assume it caught the queen as the butterfly fed at one of our mist flowers (there were many other queens nectaring at these plants). I grabbed the camera and made many photos while the anole swallowed its prey.”

Anolis Evolution Classroom Exercise

By Jonathan Losos

On May 8, 2011

In All Posts

The University of California Museum of Paleontology has a wonderful website on evolution education, including a number of classroom exercises. One of these focuses on using phylogeny to understand the evolution of the Greater Antillean ecomorphs.

20 Years in the Bahamas

By Jonathan Losos

On May 6, 2011

In Notes from the Field

Sitting on an airplane from Boston to Miami, en route to Marsh Harbour, I realized that this trip marks the 20^th anniversary of my Bahamian fieldwork. It was as a callow new postdoc at the University of California, Davis, that I first embarked to the Bahamas in May, 1991, setting forward a research program that has brought me back every year in the past two decades, some times more than once per year. I’ve lost track of how much time in total I’ve spent there, but it’s been more than a year of my life (of course, I should point out that my colleagues in crime have been going there even longer, Dave Spiller since the 80’s and Tom Schoener, since the 70’s).

What keeps bringing us back? Despite what you might think, it’s not the beaches, or even the casinos! The primary reason is that in many areas of the Bahamas, there are a large number of very small islands. They are officially termed “rocks,” and aptly so: they are craggy dots of limestone sharpness, ranging in size from a few square meters on up. There are several things that are great about these islets. First, they have complex ecosystems, but not too complex: a few species of bushes and trees, a variety of insects and other arthropods, and often only one species of lizard, the brown anole, Anolis sagrei. As the islands get bigger, they become lusher and more species rich in everything, including lizards. Second, many of the islands are just the right size: big enough to have lizards (the smallest islands generally don’t), small enough that we can easily census the populations of lizards, spiders, plants, and other creatures.

The Best Poles for Anole Noosing

By Jonathan Losos

On May 6, 2011

In Ask the Experts

An avid AA reader writes: “Since you’re always on the cutting edge of everything, are Cabela’s Panfish Poles still your favorite noosing implement, or has something better shown up on the market?” Indeed, this reporter is still a fan of said product. Light, collapsing to pocket size, and cheap, these are the real deal for anole wrangling. Extendable to 10’ to 14’, they are suited for all but the most arboreal of anoles. Though a bit fragile—it’s easy to break the most distal segment—their low price more than compensates; just bring a few to the field and you’ll be fine (note added in press: a quick look at their website shows the price has gone up! Not quite as cheap as in the old days). Warning: although they’re tough enough for most anoles, if you swing a good sized crown-giant out of tree, you’ll probably snap off the end of the pole (and then have an infuriated anole with a noose and pole tip around its neck to contend with). Still, all-in-all, this is the best on the market. Anyone care to differ?

Great Tales of Florida Anoles

By Jonathan Losos

On May 5, 2011

In Introduced Anoles, Natural History Observations

From Dust Tracks on the Web

In a recent post, AA mentioned Janson Jones’ (Dust Tracks on the Web) report on catching a magnificent knight anole. Turns out that Jones is not only a kindred spirit, but a keen observer and an excellent photographer. Over the course of the last few days, he has posted a series of stories of observations of Florida anoles that are worth checking out.

Just a few comments. In “Clash of the Anole Titans” (photo above), he tells of a territorial battle between two male green anoles. Ultimately, the fight concludes when one male loses his grip and falls to the ground. Those who study the functional capabilities of anoles are always surprised at the great sticking ability of the anole toepad, much greater than is needed to support the lizard’s body weight (anoles can hang from a single toe!). Perhaps this ability has evolved, not for every day living, but for exceptional circumstances, such as prolonged, hand-to-hand combat or hanging on to a mini-van.

Luke Mahler Wins Fisher Prize

By Jonathan Losos

On May 3, 2011

In Anoles and Anolologists in the News

The Society for the Study of Evolution gives the R.A. Fisher Prize “for an outstanding Ph.D. dissertation paper published in the journal Evolution during a given calendar year.” This year’s awardee is Luke Mahler, for the paper, which appeared on the cover of the Sept, 2010 issue of Evolution: Mahler, D.L., L.J. Revell, R.E. Glor, and J.B. Losos. 2010. Ecological opportunity and the rate of morphological evolution in the diversification of Greater Antillean anoles. Evolution 64:2731-2745.

The Fisher Prize is relatively young, but already boasts an impressive list of past winners, to which Mahler is a worthy addition:

2006 Maurine Neiman

2007 Guillaume Martin

2008 R. Brian Langerhans

2009 Megan Higgie

2010 Britt Koskella

2011 D. Luke Mahler

Anoles in the Blogosphere

By Jonathan Losos

On April 28, 2011

In All Posts

It turns out that Anole Annals isn’t the only member of the WordPress.com stable that has a thing for our favorite lizard. While recently doing some tag surfing, we came across the following posts.

Catholic mom tells the gripping (or not) story of a green anole that went for a ride on the minivan windshield. You can probably guess the outcome, but the photos are nifty.