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I recently returned from a trip to eastern Cuba and as expected, made some interesting observations and gathered some new natural history information.
While poking around one evening with a flashlight (mainly looking for Eluth’s) I saw this “orange” sagrei sleeping on some veg. I photographed it to share here since there was some discussion on and off blog about this color phase. After I got it in hand to determine species (since homolechis and jubar were also very common in the area), I was surprised at the dewlap appearance. At first I thought it had a red mite infection because of the color and texture; but after scrutiny, just accepted that it had a bright red pigment that was scattered about the entire ventral anterior. Any ideas or similar observation?
Caribherp is a website devoted to all herpetologic matters West Indian. It describes itself as follows:
Caribherp contains information on amphibians and reptiles of the Caribbean Islands (West Indies). It serves as a checklist of what occurs in the region as well as a quick identification guide to the species. Approximately 2000 images and maps, and selected frog calls (sounds), are presented along with an integrated open-access journal, Caribbean Herpetology. The journal accepts color images and video and currently publishes brief communications on individual species—later volumes will include full research articles. The species accounts can be sorted in many ways. Maps of the Caribbean, both current and historical, can be found on a separate site, Caribmap. Multimedia essays related to conservation issues on Caribbean islands are on a third site, Caribnature.
The poster above and a similar one can be obtained here on the “Resources” page.
Taxonomist’s conundrum: What to do when a species needs a new name, but the moniker available is unpleasant? Case in point: this verdant beauty is surely the loveliest of the Bahamas’ lizards. Long known as A. carolinensis, recent work demonstrated that Bahamian green anoles and American green anoles are not closely related and thus represent independent colonizations from their Cuban, A. porcatus, ancestors. Hence, unless one wants to sink them all into a single species (which by the rules of zoological nomenclature, would be given the name A. carolinensis, thus sinking porcatus and representing another instance of U.S. hegemony over Cuba), the Bahamian lizards need a new name.
And, alas, that name already exists, and it’s a stinker: A. smaragdinus. Trying saying it yourself. There are a number of different ways to pronounce it—I have no idea which is correct, but they’re all unpleasant. And don’t bother trying to shorten it: “smarags” is cacophonous as well. It’s a shame, really, because the epithet is apt, meaning “emerald green” in Latin.
The meetings kick off tonight in stinkin’ hot Norman, Ok. From the program guide, here are the anole-themed talks. Can’t attend? Fear not–AA will keep you abreast of events as they unfold.
Sunday, 2:45 P.M. University A, Cox, Robert, Urbach, Davnah, Duryea, M.C., Calsbeek, Ryan. Testing the adaptive significance of progeny sex-ratio bias in the brown anole lizard, Anolis sagrei.
Andrea Barragán Forero [andreabarragan10@hotmail.com] is working with A. concolor and A. pinchoti from the collection of the National University of Colombia. She is investigating whether the species are sexually dimorphic in size and shape, and if their morphology is similar to the Greater Antillean ecomorphs. Her work is entitled: Diversificación morfológica de Anolis solitarios: Anolis concolor y Anolis pinchoti de las islas de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, Colombia.
Andrea could really use a photograph of a live A. pinchoti. If you can help her, please email her.
Really, I’m not a paid flak for the Leal lab, but there’s some more cool videos posted today on chipojolab. This time, there are two videos of brown anoles foraging. The first is an anole down in the intertidal, munching on a small invertebrate. The second is one up in the bushes, trying–without success–to gobble down a red berry.
From today’s edition of Chipojolab. Go there to see the video:
“The head-bob displays of anoles have been studied for decades. In the early 1970’s, Tom Jenssen’s pioneering work began to unravel the intricacies of these motion signals. This work was followed by research conducted by Leo Fleishman (A.K.A. “Jefesisimo”), who elegantly demonstrated that head-bobs are designed to be conspicuous against background vegetation movement. Dave’s research is building upon the work of Tom and Leo by evaluating the plasticity of head-bobs, along with possible mechanisms that anoles might employ to increase the likelihood of being detected by conspecifics. Today’s video illustrates one such mechanism: note (in slow motion) how the anole is pushing so vigorously with his forelimbs that both limbs leave the perch! This behavior results in extremely high amplitude displays, which should be easily detected by conspecifics.”
Sum, sum, summertime, and Anole Annals readers of all stripes are out there, finding and studying anoles. Why not tell us what you’re seeing and doing? Observations, anecdotes, photographs, descriptions of research projects–the anole world needs to know! Or comment on a new paper, or an old one that made an impression. Or any other aspect of anoliana that comes to mind. Anole Annals welcomes posts on all matters anoline.
In it’s brief existence, AA has already published posts by 21 authors, and many more have commented. Why don’t you join the team? Information on how to post is available here.
p.s. Bonus points to anyone who can name the species above.
p.p.s. Thanks to Melissa Woolley for constructing the image above.