Anole Annals

Vitamin A for Anolis and Chamaeleolis

On June 17, 2011

Does anyone out there have good info or maybe a paper or two about the vitamin A requirement for Anolis lizards? We are having minor eye issues in our collection from time to time and when given vitamin A supplements, the problems seem to go away. They are always provided with the same vitamin/mineral/calcium suppliments as our other lizards, but I thought that maybe their requirement for the vitamin was greater than the other animals in our collection. Sometimes even the babies come out with “gunky” eyes, and we are not sure of the cause. Does anyone else ever have this problem?

Any help would be much appreciated. We are also looking for “normal” blood level values for these lizards, as our studies have shown that they have a much higher calcium level than we expected, especially in females.

Thanks for any help,
Will

Strange perch mate

By Joe Burgess

On June 16, 2011

In New Research, Notes from the Field

Anoles in Florida really have to deal with some strange neighbors. You just never know who is going to move in next door. Giant day geckos are rapidly expanding their range in the Fla Keys and use a variety of perch sites and heights including manmade structures. This of course brings them in contact with all species of Anolis occurring there. I enjoyed watching this interaction… The A.carolinensis/porcatus was really troubled with the invader, using the entire repertoire of his display skills. The gecko (Phelsuma grandis) which was at least three times the mass of the anole, only seemed slightly hesitant to continue to the crown of the tree. Once there the anole displayed for several minutes trying to influence the gecko out of his small palm. Perhaps one day they will learn each others language.

Anole on Anole Violence

By Rich Glor

On June 15, 2011

In Natural History Observations, Notes from the Field

Down the hatch. Anolis cybotes eats A. marron. Photo by Luke Mahler.

A few years back I was asked to give a talk to some undergraduate marine biology students studying at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab in Jamaica. I brought a live Jamaican giant anole (A. garmani) to this presentation, and told the students that this species eats just about any other animals it can fit in its mouth – including other anoles. One of the students seemed shocked by this revelation and suggested that “they only eat other anoles in emergencies, right?” This necessitated a little lecture on nature red in tooth and claw that seemed to leave some of the students on the verge of tears. (Presumably readers of this blog already know that whatever concerns organisms might have about inclusive fitness do not extend to the intra-generic level.)

Although anole on anole predation is a well-known phenomenon, most reports involve adults feeding on much smaller juveniles. In the latest issue of Herpetological Review, Luke Mahler and I report an exception to this generality involving predation by an adult male Anolis cybotes on an adult female Anolis marron. With a prey SVL ~60% as large as the predator’s (70mm for the predator v. 45mm for the prey) this observation ranks as the highest predator:prey ratio ever reported for anoles. Given that the A. cybotes failed to fully ingest its prey during the 8+ hours we held it captive, we speculate that this event was at, or perhaps even above, this individual’s prey size limit.

The Ability of Anoles to Acclimate to Dry Conditions

By Jonathan Losos

On June 14, 2011

In New Research

Lizard in an Evolutionary Tree's reworking of Williams' classic figure. Note that A. gundlachi is a trunk-ground anole, not, as indicated, a trunk-crown anole.

In this famous figure, Ernest Williams sketched out his view of how anole diversification occurred on the Greater Antilles, using Puerto Rico as an example. First, species diverge to use different structural habitat, producing the different ecomorphs. Subsequently, within-ecomorph divergence produces species that use the same structural habitat, but which occupy different climatic micro-climates, ranging from cool and moist rainforest to blazing hot and dry semi-desert. This two-stage pattern of evolution is displayed not only on Puerto Rico, but also on Cuba and Hispaniola (Jamaica, the most species deprived island, has little within ecomorph diversity).

In contrast to the plenitude of research in recent years on the adaptive basis of morphological differences among the ecomorphs, relatively little work has focused on the extent to which closely related species—members of the same ecomorph class—have adapted to occupying different microclimates.

Photo of Anolis pinchoti Needed

By Jonathan Losos

On June 13, 2011

In All Posts

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.

The Proper Way to Measure the Color of an Anole Dewlap

By Jonathan Losos

On June 11, 2011

In Research Methods

Anolis sagrei. Photo by Melissa Losos.

For anyone interested in studying the color of anole dewlaps, Manuel Leal explains the state-of-the-art way to collect color measurements here.

What the…?

By Jonathan Losos

On June 10, 2011

In Anole Art, Literature, and Humor

Who would create such a page? And who are the seven people who “like it”? It seems possibly a response to the “Anolis” FB page (featuring the same ID photo), which reassuringly has 109 likes… For the record, of the plethora of anole themed FB pages, AA endorses “Anolis Lizards,” primarily because we created it. Check it out, and please add your own photos and posts.

Anolis carolinensis Genome Assembly 2.0 Now Readily Available

By Jonathan Losos

On June 9, 2011

In New Research

AnoCar 2.0 is now fully integrated into the Ensembl and UCSC browsers, and NCBI’s Mapviewer. Click to view.

Latest Issue of IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians Chockful of Anoles

By Jonathan Losos

On June 9, 2011

In Introduced Anoles, New Research

The March issue of IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians: Conservation and Natural History has just been received, and it is their most anoleful issue ever. The highlight is a delightful report of an expedition to tiny and desolate Sombrero Island in the northern Lesser Antilles, home to a population of A. gingivinus which, lacking trees as available perches, is forced to hang onto the vertical walls of the abandoned lighthouse keeper’s house.

In addition, another article reports the introduction of A. sagrei to St. Lucia, complementing introductions of that species to many other islands in the Lesser Antilles: St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Grenada and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Is it just a matter of time before it occupies every island south of the Greater Antilles? Another article, however, reports the snuffing out of a propagule of two A. sagrei that arrived to Layou, St. Vincent in a flower pot from Florida. However, as the article notes, the species thrives elsewhere on the island. Lastly, the Table of Contents page has a nice photograph of A. conspersus from Grand Cayman.

As if articles on anoles weren’t enough a reason to subscribe, I have to comment on the beautiful photographs that can be found throughout this magazine, along with interesting articles on a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians.

A Primer on Filming Anole Behavior – Part 1

By Justin Henningsen

On June 8, 2011

In Notes from the Field, Research Methods

A field assistant, Sarah, films anole behavior in semi-natural enclosures

I’m in the midst of my fourth summer of field work, and over the course of this time, I have spent many hours filming male Anolis carolinensis. I’ve done this work under several conditions; one project involved filming known animals in the field, a second required filming staged encounters between males in the lab, and the final (and current) project has me filming animals in semi-natural enclosures. These experiences prompted me to create this post, which I hope will be useful to anole researchers and enthusiasts who are embarking on projects that involve capturing video of lizards doing the things that fascinate us. Today, I’ll begin with a discussion of cameras and in a later post, I will write about other equipment as well as some of the techniques I’ve employed to capture useful images.

The Camera

The most important piece of equipment.