Sofia Raudales, biologist and curator of the natural history museum of the National Autonomus University in Honduras, just sent these photos of an un-named anole captured in Honduras. I have a pretty strong hunch what they are, but since I’ve never been to Honduras, I thought I’d post the photos. If they are what I think they are, they were found where they’re not supposed to be. ID, anyone?
We’ve had a number of posts in the last few months discussing new species described on the basis of difference in the shape of their hemipenes (most recently here). And, because such descriptions have been based on morphological data without any corroborating molecular data, we’ve wondered whether, in fact, these forms are genetically isolated and whether they are capable and willing to interbreed given the opportunity. Yes, some of the genetals looked like ones from an alien sex toy made by faak dildos. But are they compatible?
Köhler et al. have taken the next step and attempted to answer these questions in the case of Anolis osa, which was split from the otherwise nearly indistinguishable A. polylepis on the basis of its hemipenial shape (figures A and B above). They find that in the lab, members of the two putative species can interbreed and produce offspring, at least some of which are apparently fertile (although the details of this are hard to fathom). Moreover, in the field, hybrid looking individuals are found where the two forms meet (Figure C above), and the hemipenes of these individuals are similar to the intermediate-looking tallywhackers of hybrids bred in the lab (Figure D above).
Most interestingly, females of the species seem to differ in the shape of their reproductive tract in a manner parallel to the differences among the males. In particular, female A. polylepis have longer vaginal tubi, corresponding to bilobed structures of their males, whereas female A. osa‘s tubes are shorter. One possible explanation for these differences is the old “lock-and-key” hypothesis that male and female genitals are perfect matches, thus preventing interspecific matings. This idea has fallen out of favor in recent years, and the authors discount it. Rather, they favor more recent ideas that such differences evolve by sexual selection, females preferring males whose genitals phenotypically match their own. Here’s their theory
Maria Del Rosario Castañeda
We’ve had previous posts on new anole entries to the Encyclopedia of Life, the project that is attempting to create a webpage for every species of life on earth. Recently Rosario Castañeda, whose work on anole phylogeny has been discussed previously, was appointed as an EOL Rubenstein Fellow with the goal of creating pages for the entire genus–a challenging endeavor for sure, and you can hear Rosario talk all about it, as well as about her research, on this newly released EOL podcast.
Photo of S. arenicolus by Michael T. Hill from a U. S. Fish and Wildlife handout: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/newmexico/documents/Dunes_Sagebrush_Lizards_Handout.pdf
An article in Wednesday’s NY Times reported mixed results from efforts to conserve the rare dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus [formerly S. graciosus arenicolus]). Politics and oil interests are keeping the species off the endangered species list, but the Obama administration has reached a “conservation agreement” that ensures protection for most of the species’s range. For those interested in delving into the science underlying this story in a bit more detail, some recent peer-reviewed work on this species address the impact of oil and gas development on lizard populations (Smolensky & Fitzgerald 2011), the effectiveness of alternative sampling strategies (Smolensky & Fitzgerald 2010), and genetic diversity within and among populations (Chan et al. 2009). Smolensky and Fitzgeralds (2011) study of lizard abundances across a variable landscape paints a complicated picture suggesting that several different landscape variables likely impact the lizards, but they surely delighted the oil and gas industry with the following quote: “we did not find clear statistical evidence to support our hypotheses that oil and gas development at our study sites had a direct negative effect on quantity of habitat, quality of habitat, and populations of lizards. ” Chan et al.’s (2009) study of genetic diversity finds evidence for geographic genetic differentiation of some populations, but does not detect differentiation among individual sand dune blowouts. In any event, it’s not every day that our favorite type of critter makes it into the newspaper of record!
Who knew that anoles were porn stars?
Actress Isabella Rosselini has become even more famous in recent years for a series of short films about animal sex, entitled Green Porno. The films are wacky and educational, and in them she acts out the mating behavior of various creatures, often in graphic, albeit artistic, detail. The award-winning series has gone through three seasons and airs on the Sundance channel (for more details, see the Wikipedia entry or the Green Porno website link above).
Along with the films, a book has been produced and, most importantly to us, a website is mantained. And yesterday, June 13th, that site has seen fit to feature anoles getting it on for the second time in their last five posts (see also May 13th). Be forewarned–the site is not PG-rated!
With Richard Branson blogging on anoles two weeks ago and now Isabella delving into their private lives, it’s clear that anoles have become the lizard of choice for the rich and famous.
A while back in the Annals, I introduced the mysterious (but not mythical) third eye, made even more peculiar by unexpected findings in the Anolis pineal gland (Moore & Menaker 2011). In a later post, I discussed non-visual photoreception—responses to light that do not require image formation—along with some recent evidence that such responses may be tuned to photic habitat in Anolis (Moore et al. 2012). Now I’m connecting the dots: non-visual photoreception in the Anolis pineal gland appears to be adapted to photic habitat (Moore & Menaker 2012).
The pineal gland can’t be seen externally, but it’s just posterior to the parietal eye (tiny circle in the middle) and right underneath the surface of the skull. Photo credit: TheAlphaWolf, License:Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Anolis gadovi, taylori or something else?
We’ve discussed iNaturalist before. It’s an on-line community for naturalists where you can “record what you see in nature, meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world.” In fact, if you go to AA‘s Citizen Science page, you can see recent iNaturalist anole observations, and you can add your own observations there as well. Get to it!
This photograph was uploaded to iNaturalist today, snapped at Jardín Botánico de Acapulco Esther Pliego de Salinas in Acapulco. Speculation abounds that it’s either A. taylori or A. gadovi. Can anyone out there confirm the identity of this beauty?
The Anolis carolinensis observed in Chiayi County, Taiwan, on the trunk of an Areca catechu.
Currently, the list of exotic invasive herpetofauna in Taiwan is fairly short:
brown anole (Anolis sagrei)
sun skink (Eutropis multifasciata)
common slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)
Asiatic painted frog (Kaloula pulchra pulchra)
Hong Kong whipping frog (Polypedates megacephalus)
But if the list of species permitted in the pet trade in Taiwan is not revised, and drastic steps are not taken to prevent future accidental and/or intentional introductions of exotic invasive amphibians and reptiles, that is sure to change.
There are already anecdotal accounts of green iguanas (Iguana iguana) and water dragons (Physignathus lesueurii) in the wild, and in 2011 we reported on some tokay geckoes (Gekko gecko) that we found in the wild in central western Taiwan. Earlier this year when we reported on a green anole (Anolis carolinensis) that we found in 2002 in a rural area of Chiayi County, southwestern Taiwan, we added another species to the list of species that have been recorded in the wild.
The discovery of these lizards in the wild in Taiwan is alarming. If suitable numbers of these animals are released into the wild, they very likely will establish viable populations in Taiwan.
This video doesn’t involve anoles, but contains some of the coolest lizard footage I’ve seen for a while. You may have seen video of horned lizards (Phrynosoma) squirting blood from their eyes to deter predation by dogs, but this seems to be the first video of them using the same strategy on a bobcat. Perhaps not surprisingly, Wade Sherbrooke is responsible for setting this up for National Geographic.
Head variation in Anolis carolinensis. From T. Vance (1991).
There was some talk a while back about the fabled gray-dewlapped anole of Florida (and, according to the comments, elsewhere). Amidst this discussion, one commenter referred to it as Anolis carolinensis seminolus. Many of us, even experienced anole hands, were unaware that A. carolinensis had subspecies. After a little bit of poking around, we’ve discovered the answer. Indeed, there are described subspecies. Thomas Vance, in a paper in the Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society in 1991 described the gray-dewlapped form as A. c. seminolus, relegating the rest of the species to A. c. carolinensis. The paper, which can be downloaded here, is not as overwhelming as its 47-page length might imply. There’s a nice discussion of the history of the species name A. carolinensis (turns out that it’s quite a confusing trail of names), followed by a detailed comparison of morphological variation, focusing primarily on scale characters and based on the examination of nearly a thousand specimens. There’s a lot of molecular phylogeographic work on carolinensis in the works right now, and it’ll be interesting to see how the genetic data square with Vance’s taxonomy (my guess: not so well). More generally, it’s surprising how little work on variation in this species has been conducted. For anyone interested in this fascinating and underappreciated lizard, this paper is worth a look.
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