From Rachel on Twitter.
Wouldn’t this be great? Maybe there’s one out there, still waiting to be discovered.
Author: Jonathan Losos Page 54 of 133
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.
httpv://vimeo.com/93621704
We’ve discussed the crisis concerning Jamaica’s Goat Islands previously. This film is the work of Robin Moore. Read more about the film and the efforts to preserve Jamaica’s iguanas on National Geographic‘s Newswatch. More relevant videos can be viewed at the Save Goat Islands website.
Anole jeans! Now marked down to $25. Get ’em while they last!
Extensive googling reveals that the jeans are made by Nice Work Textile Jeans, Inc.
Long time AA readers will know that anoles frequently pop up in haute couture, perhaps most recently when Tommy Bahama created an anole-colored T-shirt.
Distribution records for Anolis cristatellus in Costa Rica reported in 2011 AA post.
Four years ago, we reported on the distribution of the Puerto Rican crested anole all along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. We also found the species inland, as far west as Turrialba and Siquerres, but not Guapiles (see map to right). A year later, we returned for a quick follow-up as part of a herpetology course spring break trip to Costa Rica. The weather wasn’t great and we failed to find cresteds in any place not previously reported; however, observations of brown basilisks, another sun-loving species, suggested that the weather was suitable enough, and that perhaps the absence of the anoles was real.
Two years later, this past March, another herpetology class trip ensued, and so another expedition was launched to Guapiles and environs. The team included AA correspondent Katie Boronow, an award-winning senior with expertise on A. cristatellus, and a sophomore in training for Miami field work this summer (more on them in posts to come).
And the results???
Great photos on Adventures Down South
Where do anoles poop? Will they chase laser points? Find out on Casey Gilman’s new blog on her Florida field research, Adventures Down South. Meanwhile, Chipojolab keeps the world abreast of goings-on in the Leal Lab. Most recently–Leal back in the Bahamas and multiple lab members cavorting in Puerto Rico! And Ambika Kamath’s afoot with her field crew in Gainesville, dodging frisbees and fire ants in quest of the wily festive anole. Finally, at Lizard and Friends, Michele Johnson talks about Puerto Rican anoles that are biting off more than they can chew. Or are they?
Do you have a blog on your research? If so, let us know!
Field laboratory in Puerto Rico. Read all about it in Chipojolab.
Variation in the back patterns of Anolis sagrei in the Bahamas. From Calsbeek and Cox (2010).
The confusing conundrum of the polymorphic females continues. We’ve written about this phenomenon in previous posts [e.g., 1,2]. Within and between populations, female back patterns vary, including lines, stripes, diamonds, blotches, and nothing at all. What is the significance of this variation? In some cases, but not others, females with different patterns use different microhabitats–higher, wider, etc.
The latest contribution features work on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera, where three patterns co-occur. Writing in Herpetologica, Les et al. add a new twist–back pattern variants differ in hindlimb length. But they don’t differ in sprint speed (which is weakly correlated to body size and relative limb length) or to perch diamter. But they do differ in perch height. Another brick in the wall of female pattern polymorphism, but it doesn’t make the picture any clearer.
Here’s the abstract:
The Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) is a polymorphic species, with females often exhibiting one of three distinct pattern morphs. Efforts to correlate female-limited pattern polymorphism in anoles to ecological or physiological factors have largely been unsuccessful, with such correlations being either inconsistent among species or among populations of a single species. To test the hypothesis that morph types would differ in their response to putative predators, we observed escape behavior in 84 female A. sagrei from Cape Eleuthera (Eleuthera, Bahamas) and tested 103 females for sprint speed. We found differences between morph types in hindlimb span and perch height. Differences in sprint speed were not significant, nor did morphs differ in escape responses. We suggest further studies to determine whether differences between morphs in hindlimb span are genetic or plastic, and, if plastic, what factor might be responsible. We conclude that perching at different heights could be selectively advantageous for different morph types, and that differences among individuals in sprint speed are largely consequences of hindlimb length. Because morphs in this population did not differ in escape responses, we suggest that different dorsal patterns are not linked to specific behaviors that could reduce detection by a potential predator.
About time! Read all about it in the St. Augustine Record.
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, produced by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, are “Loose-leaf accounts of taxa (measuring 8.5 x 11 inches) prepared by specialists, including synonymy, definition, description, distribution map, and comprehensive list of literature for each taxon. Covers amphibians and Reptiles of the entire Western Hemisphere. Individual accounts are not sold separately, except where indicated.”
CAAR entries are now freely available online; there are 32 anole species accounts. The latest is by Les and Powell and is a very nice CAAR entry for the lovely Anolis smaragdinus.
Admittedly, they were in a piece on space geckos, but you gotta’ take fame where you can get it. Catch the clip here before Youtube takes it down.
And note that this is not the first time anoles have been mistaken for geckos by journalists. Let’s not forget the segment on the Sunday Morning CBS show, a misstep for which AA led the blogosphere in breaking the news and eventually received a mea culpa from CBS.
Juan Daza asks: Can you identify this lizard?
He continues:
If you have no idea, it’s not because it’s not an Anolis; in fact, this is an imaginary lizard that was reconstructed based on the remains of a 110 my old fossil from the Gobi Desert and a mosaic of features from different living geckos such as Agamura persica, Pachydactylus rangei, Teratoscincus przewalskii, Hemidactylus turcicus, and Coleonyx variegatus (and check the dromeosaurids roosting at twilight). This digital illustration drawn by Stephanie Abramowicz is the cover of a March Special Issue from the Anatomical Record: New Advances In Morphology and Evolution of Living and Extinct Squamates [freely available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.v297.3/issuetoc].
The idea of a volume like this started with James D. Gardner and Randall L. Nydam. They wanted to put a collection of papers from the Paleo-session of the past World Congress in Vancouver. Instead, they ended up editing another multi-authored volume entitled: Mesozoic and Cenozoic lissamphibian and squamate assemblages of Laurasia (Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 93(4), Special Issue).
This volume took a different approach, and we (Scott Miller and I) put together herpetologists and paleontologists from around the world in a volume to present new ideas about morphology and evolution of squamates. This volume is a collection of 18 papers about paleontology, functional morphology, and gross anatomy of lizards and snakes, and includes recent findings from researches from 12 countries (USA, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, South Africa, and New Zealand).
So please feel free to browse this volume that includes original research papers about the fossil record of lizards and snakes, anatomy of the chameleon’s atlantoaxial complex, pedal grasping capabilities, and pectoral girdle anatomy of anoles, fossil record of the Gekkota, cranial joints of squamates, hemipeneal morphology, brille formation, cranial joints, ancestral morphology and niche modeling of rhineurids, Anguimorpha, and the jaw musculature, and gut morphology of snakes. I hope you find this stimulating and pick morphology today, for a change.
Table of Contents:
The Anatomical Record is Alive With Leapin’ Lizards and Slitherin’ Snakes (pages 337–340)
Kurt H. Albertine and Scott C. Miller
What’s So Special About Squamates? (pages 341–343)
Juan D. Daza and Scott C. Miller
Not Enough Skeletons in the Closet: Collections-Based Anatomical Research in an Age of Conservation Conscience (pages 344–348)
Christopher J. Bell and Jim I. Mead
An Overview of the South American Fossil Squamates (pages 349–368)
Adriana María Albino and Santiago Brizuela
The Atlas-Axis Complex in Chamaeleonids (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae), with Description of a New Anatomical Structure of the Skull (pages 369–396)
Andrej Čerňanský, Renaud Boistel, Vincent Fernandez, Paul Tafforeau, Le Noir Nicolas and Anthony Herrel
Anatomy of the Crus and Pes of Neotropical Iguanian Lizards in Relation to Habitat use and Digitally Based Grasping Capabilities (pages 397–409)
Virginia Abdala, María José Tulli, Anthony P. Russell, George L. Powell and Félix B. Cruz
Geometric Morphometric Analysis of the Breast-Shoulder Apparatus of Lizards: A Test Case Using Jamaican Anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae) (pages 410–432)
Alexander Tinius and Anthony Patrick Russell
On the Fossil Record of the Gekkota (pages 433–462)
Juan D. Daza, Aaron M. Bauer and Eric D. Snively
To Move or Not to Move: Cranial Joints in European Gekkotans and Lacertids, an Osteological and Histological Perspective (pages 463–472)
Marcello Mezzasalma, Nicola Maio and Fabio Maria Guarino
Relict Endemism of Extant Rhineuridae (Amphisbaenia): Testing for Phylogenetic Niche Conservatism in the Fossil Record (pages 473–481)
Christy A. Hipsley and Johannes Müller
Are Hemipenial Spines Related to Limb Reduction? A Spiny Discussion Focused on Gymnophthalmid Lizards (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) (pages 482–495)
Pedro M. Sales Nunes, Felipe F. Curcio, Juliana G. Roscito and Miguel T. Rodrigues
Through the Looking Glass: The Spectacle in Gymnophthalmid Lizards (pages 496–504)Ricardo Arturo Guerra-Fuentes, Juliana G. Roscito, Pedro M. Sales Nunes, Priscilla Rachel Oliveira-Bastos, Marta Maria Antoniazzi, Jared Carlos and Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues
A New Miniaturized Lizard From the Late Eocene of France and Spain (pages 505–515)
Arnau Bolet and Marc Augé
Comparative Anatomy of the Lower Jaw and Dentition of Pseudopus apodus and the Interrelationships of Species of Subfamily Anguinae (Anguimorpha, Anguidae) (pages 516–544)
Jozef Klembara, Miroslav Hain and Karolína Dobiašová
Unusual Soft-Tissue Preservation of a Crocodile Lizard (Squamata, Shinisauria) From the Green River Formation (Eocene) and Shinisaur Relationships (pages 545–559)
Jack L. Conrad, Jason J. Head and Matthew T. Carrano
Postnatal Development of the Skull of Dinilysia patagonica (Squamata-Stem Serpentes) (pages 560–573)
Agustín Scanferla and Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar
Article
Homology of the Jaw Muscles in Lizards and Snakes—A Solution from a Comparative Gnathostome Approach (pages 574–585)
Peter Johnston
A Model of the Anterior Esophagus in Snakes, with Functional and Developmental Implications (pages 586–598)
David Cundall, Cassandra Tuttman and Matthew Close