Like many quests to find rare herps, this is a story of courage, persistence, and strength. Just kidding; it was a piece of cake.
Anolis duellmani was described by Fitch and Henderson (1973) based on four specimens from the southern slope of the Volcán San Martín Tuxtla, Veracruz, Mexico. Even though the phylogenetic position of A. duellmani is uncertain, no additional morphological variation had been described for the species. As part of a major effort led by Dr. Adrián Nieto-Montes de Oca and Dr. Steven Poe to untangle the systematics of Mesoamerican anoles, Israel Solano-Zavaleta, Levi N. Gray, and I went to Los Tuxtlas to search for the elusive species.
En el marco de mi tesis de maestría sobre la Ecofisiología térmica de Anolis huilae tuve la oportunidad de observar, creería que sería el primer registro, una pareja de ésta especie copulando en el tronco de un árbol. Evento que lo considero relevante por la falta de información acerca de ésta especie.
El estudio lo estoy desarrollando en el Corregimiento de Juntas, Ibagué (Colombia). Mi objetivo es conocer aspectos de la fisiología térmica de A. huilae y relacionarla con las temperaturas ambientales y microambietales de su hábitat. Para la colecta de datos me estoy apoyando con una cámara termográfica infrarroja (metodología no invasiva) y modelos de cobre con data loggers insertos en ellos.
Imagen termográfica de copula de Anolis huilae.
En una primera etapa del estudio estoy averiguando si A. huilae es una especie heliotérmica o tigmotérmica; como también, si es termoconformadora activa o termoconformadora pasiva. Datos que próximamente los compartiré.
Observaciones comportamentales, no registradas, ayudarán a conocer más aspectos de la biología y ecología de ésta especie, de la que aún falta mucho por descubrir. Así mismo, he observado en esta localidad la simpatría con otro anolis, Anolis antonii.
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English translation via the internet:
Record of Copulation of Anolis Huilae
In the framework of my master’s thesis on the thermal ecophysiology of Anolis huilae, I had the opportunity to observe, you would not believe that would be the first record, a couple of this species copulating in the trunk of a tree. Event that is considered relevant by the lack of information about this species.
The study, I am developing in the Corregimiento of seals, Ibagué (Colombia). My goal is to understand aspects of the thermal physiology of A. huilae and relate it to the ambient temperatures and microenvironments of its habitat. For the collection of data I am supporting with a infrared thermal imager (non-invasive methods) and copper models with data loggers inserts in them.
In the first stage of the study, I am enquiring whether A. huilae thermoregulation is a species or is thigmothermic; also, whether it is an active or passive thermoregulator. I will share the data soon.
Behavioral observations, unregistered, help you learn more aspects of the biology and ecology of this species, which still lack much to discover. Also, I’ve seen in this locality the sympatry with another anole, Anolis antonii.
This individual might have arrived on Grand Cayman with a shipment of mango trees from Florida. We have some ideas, but want to solicit input from the experts.
In January 2013 I was in the Amazon rainforest in Peru near Iquitos, looking for herps to photograph. This was my first significant visit to Amazonia and I was surprised at the dearth of anoles. I hadn’t (yet) caught up on enough anole literature to realize that the anole density in that area is so very much smaller than the anole density in the Caribbean or Florida. On a good anole-finding day, I only saw perhaps three or four during the day, and another five or six sleeping at night on leaves and twigs. Most of the anoles I encountered were Anolis trachyderma, such as these two sleepers. Alas, their leafy beds were perhaps not as safe as they might have hoped…
I’m doing fieldwork with Anolis sagrei in Gainesville, FL, this summer. We now have about 125 lizards measured and marked, and have come across a number of interesting morphological oddities in these lizards. Most interesting so far is this doubly regenerated tail, i.e. there appear to be two spots at which the tail has regenerated, which means a regenerated tail must have broken and regenerated again.
A doubly regenerated tail in a male Anolis sagrei in Gainesville, FL.
Approximately three minutes before we noticed this tail, my field assistant Christian Perez asked me if double regenerations were possible, and I confidently said “no.” As Jonathan Losos puts it in Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree, “when a tail regenerates, the new portion of is made of a rod of cartilage and thus lacks the intravertebral breakage planes that enable an unregenerated tail to autotomize.” So how did this double regeneration happen? Anyone seen this before?
The next oddity is this male with a mysteriously shortened upper jaw:
A shortened upper jaw in a male Anolis sagrei in Gainesville, FL.
Third, we have a partially discoloured dewlap:
A discoloured dewlap in Gainesville, FL
And finally, here’s an addition to our collection (1, 2) of multiply tailed lizards:
A double tail in an Anolis sagrei in Gainesville, FL.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Puerto Rico for the first time, albeit briefly. Fortunately, a lot of anoles can be found even on a brief visit. With the help of caribherp.org and other references, I could identify most of them. I was hoping to get some help from the knowledgable readers of Anole Annals on the rest. I suspect they are mostly all juvenile Anolis cristatellus cristatellus, but the appearances are varied enough that I couldn’t be sure. Any ID help is greatly appreciated!
Unidentified Anole #1: Cueva María de la Cruz
This small brown anole and a couple of similar-looking buddies were dashing about on a large tree trunk at the edge of a grassy clearing at Cueva María de la Cruz. This small cave is in northeast Puerto Rico, near the coast, north of the western edge of El Yunque National Forest. I saw adult Anolis cristatellus cristatellus in smaller trees nearby, so it seems likely that this is a juvenile, though its pattern looked non-standard to me.
This proud Anolis cristatellus wileyae had snuck into the Butterfly Farm a few minutes’ walk from the cruise port in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. So had a few dozen of its conspecifics, but this was the only one showing off its pretty two-toned dewlap while lashing its tail back and forth dramatically. Perhaps this is a common behavior, but it’s not one that I had seen before. Do other anole species also do this kind of double-showoff?
During the last five years, herpetologists at the Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (PUCE), have discovered and described 35 new species of amphibians and reptiles, some of which are anoles. BBC news recently posted a photographic article on this work, which was funded by the Ecuadorian government and PUCE. Anolis otongae and A. podocarpus are some of the recently discovered species featured in that article.
The Museo de Zoología QCAZ also maintains ReptiliaWebEcuador, a website on Ecuadorian reptiles with tons of information in Spanish, including pictures, maps, free downloads, and more. Visit us if you want to know more about Ecuadorian anoles.
Three different individuals of Anolis cybotes that appear to have small pebbles or debris in their guts.
While analyzing some xrays of Anolis cybotes for my thesis work, I came across a few specimens that appear to have small dark masses in their guts. The numbers are pretty low – in over 200 xrays, I can only detect these masses in a handful of individuals. My curiosity was piqued. At first glance, they look like they might be gastroliths. Gastroliths, or gizzard stones, are rocks that animals eat to aid in digestion. Basically, the rocks help manually grind the food into smaller bits in a special portion of the digestive track called the gizzard. We know that many archosaurs (crocodilians, dinosaurs [including birds], and pterosaurs) have gizzards. Dinosaur gastroliths are some of my favorite fossils because they are usually polished and quite beautiful. However, unless I’m mistaken, lepidosaurs (squamates and rhynchocephalians) don’t have gizzards and aren’t known to have gut stones. Does anyone have an idea about what this could be? It’s possible that these are just accidental ingestions of small pebbles. Anolis cybotes do often forage near or on the ground, so perhaps it’s not so far-fetched for them to pick up a little rocky debris.
Anolis desechensis is a member of the A. cristatellus species complex from Puerto Rico. Found only on the tiny island of Desecheo, very little is known about its natural history. In fact, some might question whether it should be a distinct species, but in the absence of any data, it’s hard to say.
This lovely photo comes from the Facebook page of Island Conservation, a wonderful organization devoted–as its name implies–to the conservation of island biota. I just heard a talk yesterday crediting them for eradicating rats from an island in the Galapagos, paving the way for preservation of a unique giant tortoise race. But that’s another story.
![orange-anole-1[1]_1](https://i0.wp.com/www.anoleannals.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/orange-anole-11_1.jpg?ssl=1)
