Photo by Luis Diaz.
By browsing a PDF showing the amphibians and reptiles of Cuba, I found a picture of a beautiful anole:
Anolis equestris potior.
After doing some research, I was able to find very little info about it. It was described in 1975 by Schwartz and Thomas and lives only on Cayo Santa Maria (province Villa Clara)! It would take on the beautiful blue color during stress or “emotion,” just as some other species of anoles take on a dark phase.
The schedule for the 2012 meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology was recently published and anole enthusiasts will not be disappointed. A key word search of “Anolis” yields 26 presentations, 7 posters and 19 talks! Topics range widely including presentations on the ecology, behavior, development, and genomics of anoles.
Ken Miyata photographed these anoles about 30 years ago. All we know is that they are from Colombia. Can anyone help?
The old (portable pesticide pump), and the new (premium watering wand). Note that watering wand is connected via a hose to the DI water supply at the top left.
The thing about keeping captive anoles that most surprises the uninitiated is the fact that they don’t drink out of bowls. Instead, anoles generally lap up water provided in the form of daily sprayings. If you have a few anoles in a terrarium at your house, a handheld pump action sprayer is more than sufficient (think Windex bottle with water in it). When you scale up to hundreds of cages, however, you’re going to need another solution. In this post, I briefly review some our lab’s efforts to improve spraying efficiency.
For an interesting discussion of how the anole genome informs about human genetics, and discussion of a creationist’s claim that the anole genome can’t tell us anything about evolution, check out the latest post in Anolis Tollis.
Photo of a dew-covered A. carolinensis by Jude Haase at http://500px.com/photo/2565902?from=popular
Afternoon to all, I thought I would introduce myself with a few photos to get some identification clarification. The first one was sent by a friend (Tanis Birch) who is traveling in Belize (Punta Gorda). I have not been to Belize and have limited experience with anoles but my best guess was Anolis sagrei. Are there any similar looking anoles which I am not taking into consideration? Any thoughts?
But don’t believe us. Listen to satisfied AA poster Ashli Moore, who writes about her recent post (which has been viewed 625 times):
“Putting this up on the Anole Annals site was a great decision; I’m certain nobody would have noticed this paper otherwise! I want to thank you again for bringing this site to my attention and for allowing me to post.”
AA welcomes new posters. It’s really not that hard–you know what you did, just whip out a few paragraphs summarizing it. And it’s a great way to present the back-story behind the paper you published (or the project you’re working on). To find out how, check out the instructions here.
For example, we’re proud to be the first “related link” on this post.
Yes, it’s true. A “third eye” does exist, not only in the ancient Hindu literature and the new age imagination, but in birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, lampreys, and hagfishes. We’re talking about the pineal gland, a small organ located on top of the brain, just underneath the surface of the skull. Although it doesn’t have visual capabilities in the image-forming sense, it is intrinsically photosensitive, responding to light signals without any help from the lateral eyes. (Mammals, including humans, have a pineal gland too…but it has lost the ability to detect light).
You can see the parietal eye on top of this anole’s head (it’s the tiny circle in the middle). The pineal gland can’t be seen externally, but it’s just posterior to the parietal eye and right underneath the surface of the skull. Photo credit: TheAlphaWolf, License:Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Anoles, and some other lizards, actually have two “third eyes,” one being the pineal gland, and the other being the parietal eye, which can be seen in the picture above.
Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén
