Anole Annals

A dewlap photograph of Anolis ricordii from the western Dominican Republic.

If I had a nickel for each time I’ve been asked whether the correct spelling of the scientific name for Ricord’s Giant Anole is Anolis ricordii with two ‘i’s or Anolis ricordi with one ‘i,’ I’d have at least 15 cents. Way back in 1837, Bibron described this species as Anolis ricordii, in honor of “M. Ricord.” Why then, do some people use a single ‘i’ form that disagrees with the original description? I attempt to answer this question in this post, while also establishing the fact that the double ‘ii’ spelling is correct.

Cristatellus or Sagrei?

By Jonathan Losos

On September 5, 2011

In Introduced Anoles

Pop on over to Dust Tracks on the Web and help Janson decide if this majestic fellow is a sagrei or a cristatellus…or something else. And read some of his other recent posts on anole adventuring.

Anolis Video from Day’s Edge

By Yoel Stuart

On September 5, 2011

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor, Introduced Anoles, New Research, Notes from the Field, Research Methods

Another video about Anolis research from Day’s Edge Productions. Cool research! Great footage!

Authoritative Update on Introduced Anoles of Florida

By Jonathan Losos

On September 4, 2011

In Introduced Anoles

Walt Meshaka has just published a fabulous new monograph on the introduced reptiles and amphibians of Florida in Herpetological Conservation and Biology. Check it out here. It includes the latest word on the eight introduced anoles of that fine state.

Thinking about Speciation in Hungary

By Travis Ingram

On September 3, 2011

In Research Methods

I just finished attending a workshop in Kesthely, Hungary on Niche evolution and speciation – two of my favorite topics. Sadly there was no Anolis news to report from any of the excellent talks, but the work I presented is related to one of the anole projects I’m planning for my postdoc.

Speciational evolution is, as the name implies, evolutionary change that occurs rapidly when one species is being split into two; this means the amount of evolution in a lineage should depend on the number of times speciation has happened in its history. This contrasts with the standard Brownian motion model of gradual evolution where the amount of evolution depends on the length of time that has passed.

Speciational evolution might occur for a number of reasons (for example, due to genetic drift in small geographically isolated populations), but when one trait shows speciational evolution and another does not, we may be able to infer something about the process of speciation. For example, speciation may involve divergence in habitat (the ‘beta-niche’), or in traits that affect local resource use within a habitat (the ‘alpha-niche’).

Surprises from the Anolis “Third Eye”

By Ashli Moore

On September 1, 2011

In All Posts

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.

Media Coverage of the Anole Genome Paper

By Rich Glor

On August 31, 2011

In Anole Genome Research

Photo by David E. Scott/Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, S.C.

We’ll try to keep this post updated with links to coverage of the anole genome paper (please use the comments to tell us about new articles as they appear!):

Commentaries: Science 2.0, Why Evolution is True, Nature, National Geographic, Dust Tracks, myFDL (are you a septic of evolution?)

Press Release and Summaries: Broad Institute Press Release, Bloomberg, Harvard Gazette, Redorbit, International Business Times (and some amusing chatter about this article), TruthDive, io9, R&D Daily, GenomeWeb Daily

Anole Genome Paper Published Today!

By Rich Glor

On August 31, 2011

In Anole Genome Research, New Research

Image copyright Andrew M. Shedlock.

The anole genome paper is out in Nature today (although links on Nature’s own page only take you to a list of authors at the present time, I’m assuming this glitch will be fixed shortly). Nature also published a brief commentary highlighting some of the most interesting discoveries from this work. For more coverage of work related to the genome, check out this post and stay tuned to Anole Annals – we’ll have a bunch more genome posts over the next few days.

How the Green Anole Was Selected To Be The First Reptile Genome Sequenced

By Jonathan Losos

On August 31, 2011

In Anole Genome Research

As the publication of the anole genome approaches, one might ask: “Just how was Anolis carolinensis selected to be the first non-avian reptile to have its genome sequenced?” Turns out that it’s a long and convoluted story, and this is one man’s first-hand account.

To set the stage, we have to go back to the early days of genome sequencing, all the way back to 2005. This was a time when to sequence a genome was a really big, time-consuming, extremely expensive affair (the human genome had cost ca. $2 billion; by 2005, the price had dropped to ca. $20 million per genome). Such a big deal, in fact, that there was an NIH committee that decided which species would be sequenced, and assigned them to one of the three genome sequencing centers (Baylor University, Washington University in Saint Louis and the Broad Institute in Cambridge) that had been created as part of the human genome sequencing initiative. The first few species selected were chosen exclusively with regard to their potential relevance to human health. They were the laboratory model systems, the workhorses of biomedical research, such as the mouse, chimp, Xenopus, chicken, Drosophila and C. elegans.

By 2005, a couple of mammals had been sequenced and representatives of all classes of vertebrates except one: reptiles.

Anolis Transposable Elements and the Evolution of Amniote Genomes

By Marc Tollis

On August 30, 2011

In Anole Genome Research

Interested in transposable elements in the Anolis genome? You should be!

As DNA sequences that can move about the genome, transposable elements – or TEs – are also called “jumping genes”. These are some of the most important components of genomes, accounting for much of the variation in genome size and structure across vertebrates. The activity of TEs add to the genetic variation of populations in neutral, deleterious, and sometimes adaptive ways. In the human genome, TEs can insert into genes and cause numerous genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy (Cannilan and Batzer 2006).

We published a review in last month’s issue of Mobile Genetic Elements (Tollis & Boissinot 2011) describing the diversity and abundance of TEs found so far in the Anolis genome, and how they impact our understanding of genome evolution in reptiles and mammals. The Anolis genome contains an extraordinary diversity of TEs, including DNA transposons (“cut and paste” elements) and long terminal repeat (LTR) and non-LTR retrotransposons (“copy and paste” elements). Even though there are many different kinds of TEs in Anolis, within most TE families there are low copy numbers relative to the human genome, suggesting that purifying selection keeps tight control.