Anole Annals

Anolis lineatus from Curaçao

Several previous posts have discussed the odd case of Anolis lineatus on Curaçao, whose dewlap differs from one side to the other. Rand and Rand reported this in 1967, but the observation was pretty much forgotten until earlier this year, when Matt Brandley and compatriots confirmed the Rands’ claim. Shortly thereafter, Melissa Losos and I travelled to Curaçao as well and observed the same phenomenon, allaying concerns that the Brandley team was covering for the Rands.

But since these posts, many AA readers have no doubt been sleepless at night, pondering the obvious question: what about A. lineatus on Aruba? Do they, too, have mismatched throat fans? Indeed, one could imagine a scenario in which they might not. Asymmetry is a common result of low levels of genetic variation (although there is a lot of quibbling about this in the literature). Curaçao is downstream in an ocean current sense from Aruba. Thus, it could be that the Curaçao population of A. lineatus was founded by one or few Arubians, and thus the resulting founder effect gave rise to the dewlap discordance.

An exciting hypothesis that I am pleased to immediately quash:

Can You Name Three Things Wrong With This?

By Jonathan Losos

On January 21, 2012

In All Posts

For reasons I can’t recall, I stumbled across this stamp on the internet. There are three things wrong with this. What are they? Ok, one of them is more an oddity than a problem, and that’s a pretty easy one. But I bet no one can come up with either of the other two.

Lizards in a Bottle

By Thomas Sanger

On January 20, 2012

In Research Methods

Anole Annals posts are constantly pushing the technological limits of herpetological research, from exciting new uses for vacuum cleaners to new caging systems (here and here) to novel methods of visualizing the anole skeleton (here and here). Thanks to Kim Orrell (Shenandoah University) I learned of a new technique of shipping small anoles that may hold promise for the future.

A common challenge I often face is finding best way to ship small anoles, often hatchlings or juveniles, to collaborating labs. While hatchlings are often hardier than they look, they do require some extra protection from getting bumped around so I don’t like using bags. Most Tupperware containers are simply too big and can, at times, be difficult to get the small lizards in and out of. The package I received today used an ingenious method of packing small lizards in recycled plastic water bottles. Each bottle was loosely packed with paper towels with one or two lizards added. The bottles have a relatively small foot print and little space between bottles when packed tight. Each bottle cap had two small holes drilled for air exchange. Removing the lizards was surprisingly easy. I simply pulled each paper towel out using forceps and gently tapped each bottle until the lizard slid out the hole, usually in two to three taps. While working with these bottles today I could not help but to also think that I was on the verge of the next great Sobe ad!

Battle of the Sexes: When Dewlaps Differ

By Jonathan Losos

On January 20, 2012

In Natural History Observations

Anolis insignis above, Anolis transversalis below. Males on left, females on right. Photos appeared in Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree, photographed by Steve Poe (insignis), Arthur Georges (male transversalis) and Alexis Harrison (female transversalis).

Sexual dimorphism–differences between the sexes–have been greatly studied in anoles, and so has dewlap color and patterning. But little research has been directed to the phenomenon of sexual differences in dewlap color or pattern. Such differences are relatively rare in Caribbean islands, but much more common in mainland species. Why does this occur? Nobody knows. In fact, what female anoles use their dewlaps for has been little studied (another phenomenon, fodder for a future post, is differences in the size of the dewlap between the sexes, which can be quite substantial).

In any case, here’s a sampling of dimorphic dewlaps.

Anolis fitchi (female and male), and Anolis orcesi (female and male)

Photos courtesy Melissa Woolley.

Anole ID help

By HannahKimFrank

On January 19, 2012

In Ask the Experts

Hello anole enthusiasts!

A friend of mine was in Las Tablas, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, ~1850m and found these guys. They were sleeping on some overhanging roots where the ground had broken off near a cattle pasture. We were wondering about which species they belong to and thought the brilliant people here could help. Thanks!

In Search Of Anolis lividus In The Shadow Of The Soufrière Hills Volcano

By Martha Muñoz

On January 17, 2012

In Notes from the Field

A view of the volcano as seen from the abandoned town of Richmond Hill. Photo: Jim Hewlett

As “anolologists” we think of the Lesser Antilles as one of the major treasure troves of colorful and extravagant lizards. They have been the subject of many AA posts (here, here, here, and here, among others). While gazing at anoles dewlapping in swaying palm trees, it’s easy to forget that the Lesser Antilles are a volcanic arc. However, on the tiny island of Montserrat where Anolis lividus is found, the volcano is alive and active. After a long dormancy the volcano awoke in 1995 and, within only a few weeks of activity, the capital city of Plymouth and surrounding areas were carpeted in several meters of pyroclastic material. Today Plymouth is a modern-day Pompeii. Plymouth is also the type locality for Anolis lividus, a charismatic medium-sized lizard from the bimaculatus clade of Lesser Antillean anoles. It was extraordinarily abundant in Plymouth and surrounding areas, according to Skip Lazell’s 1972 monograph in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Since 2009 I’ve been surveying this lizard across the island, and have tried to find it as close to the volcano as I can get.

Anole Annals Poetry

By Yoel Stuart

On January 17, 2012

In All Posts

Clockwise from bottom left: Keats, Dickenson, Frost, You

Dear readers,
Here are the poems submitted to the Anole Annals Poetry Competition. We’ve decided to forgo public voting and merely list them for your enjoyment. For (to paraphrase), “poems are like gossamer, and one does not dissect gossamer.” Read on…

Meeting Summary: Anolis Evo-devo and Genomics

By Thomas Sanger

On January 16, 2012

In All Posts

The Anolis Gene Nomenclature Committee (AGNC) recently held an open discussion regarding our ongoing efforts to develop Anolis as a model system for integrative biology* and genomics at SICB 2012 in Charlestown, SC. To facilitate further discussion from the community I wanted to post a summary of this meeting here. If anyone would like to add to this discussion or propose additional objectives or concerns please leave your comments below. This is an exciting and fast-paced time for Anolis biologists and discussions such as this are necessary to continue the productive development of this genus for research in a post-genomic era.

Ongoing efforts

The AGNC was formed to efficiently develop resources that will be useful to the Anolis research community. We opened the meeting with short presentations about our ongoing resource development efforts. Carlos Infante (UGA) described work from the Menke Lab to develop cell culture protocols that will be used to test transgenic constructs directly in anole tissues rather than distantly related model systems such as the mouse or chicken. He noted that they recently had promising results testing the piggyBac transposon system in cultured anole fibroblasts. Building on her poster presentation Jeanne Wilson-Rawls (ASU) described her experiences isolating and culturing satellite cells – small stem cells found in mature muscles – and her ongoing collaboration with Kenro Kusumi (ASU) studying the mechanisms of tail regeneration in A. carolinensis. Dr. Kusumi described a relatively new project aimed at obtaining genome and transcriptome sequences for A. apletophallus from Panama as part of a collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (also see this abstract from E. Hutchins). Dr. Kusumi also reminded the audience of their recent release of additional transcriptome data for mid-stage A. carolinensis embryos (available through NCBI).

One of the AGNC objectives is to aid in the dissemination of laboratory protocols, genomic data, and to create a pipeline for integrating data from multiple populations and species (see below). Several web-based resources are now being created along these lines. Tonia Hsieh and Rob Kulathinal (Temple Univ.) concluded this introduction by describing their efforts to develop Lizardbase, a web portal for geographic and genomic data mining. While still in its development phase the portal promises to become a useful tool for the anole research community and its public outreach efforts as data is added. To build this database Drs. Hsieh and Kulathinal are soliciting geo-tagged data for this portal and are in the process of adding a searchable database of contributors.

Looking forward – Goals for 2012

Read More

Some anoles from Venezuela

By Gabriel N. Ugueto

On January 16, 2012

In All Posts

Greetings, Anole Annals readers, from sunny Miami, Florida. For my first post I wanted to share with you an illustration I did of several Venezuelan anoles, which appeared in the latest 2011 issue of Herpetological Review. I thought this illustration would give readers an opportunity to take a peek at the diverse, but often overlooked anole fauna of northern South America.

1.—Anolis tropidogaster (male). This small, little-known anole is somewhat similar in behavior to the species associated with A. chrysolepis. In fact, it is the predominant “not very arboreal” anole in forests west of the Andes in Venezuela, where A. planiceps is not found. Females have a rudimentary dewlap.

2.—Anolis fuscoauratus (male).