I think as far as anole common names go, Yellow-beard is a top 10 name, just barely, but it’s up there.
The Yellow-beard anole, Anolis gundlachi, is endemic to Puerto Rico which is so overflowing with anoles I think it’s a little bit unfair at this point. With an SVL of about 68 mm in males and 45 mm in females, these medium sized anoles live at high elevations in the forest.
Yellow-beard anoles, following that trunk-ground color scheme, are dark olive to brown with darker striping across their backs and a pale colored ventral side. Their dewlaps aren’t quite yellow but are more of a mustard-brown, and their chins have a touch of pale yellow (Yellow-chinned anole doesn’t sound as good as Yellow-beard though). Males often have tail crests!
Like many of the anoles we know and love, Yellow-beards may eat other anoles and frogs that can fit in its mouth.
Yellow-beard anoles are often parasitized by malaria, and while more research needs to be done on parasite in this anole, there are existing ones noting tail damage in infected anoles and that males are more often infected, and another noting no significant decrease in overall body condition that you can check out.
I think we may have to move #DidYouAnole to Fridays since that seems to be the better for me post recently.
And speaking of this week’s post I remember mentioning that there were other anoles with little rostral appendages and that I hadn’t gotten back to them.
(A shame it took me so long because they really are great anoles)
Anolis phyllorhinus, or the Leaf-nosed anole, is endemic to central Amazonia in Brazil (where I believe they’re called Lagarto papa-vento in Portuguese) but they are an uncommon sighting. They’re a great shade of leaf green, with pale green-white undersides. Like with Anolis proboscis, these anoles’ appendages are also flexible and possibly used to display.
The eponymous leaf nose is only present in the males, with female Leaf-nosed (or Bat) anoles not even having any swelling or prominence of their noses. Female Leaf-nosed anoles also have a greatly reduced white dewlap, while the males have a larger one that is bright red on the front half and blue-green or white toward the neck.
The SVL of a Leaf-nosed anole is about 71-85 mm, excluding the proboscis which itself varies from 20-23 mm in measured specimens.
So I’ve been reading a lot of anole papers, aside from the ones I normally read for fun (can’t believe I read papers for fun now), and I found an anole that’s pretty similar to two anoles I’ve looked at before but also still unusual.
Welcome back by the way. Nice to have to you here again.
This week is a third little cave anole, Anolis alvarezdeltoroi, or the Mexican cave anole. Mexican cave anoles live in a similar karst limestone habitat like Anolis bartschi and Anolis lucius and are often found deep inside caves, occasionally sleeping from the roof it. They may also perch from vegetation in or around the caves, particularly as juveniles.
Like the other two anoles, the Mexican cave anole has a similar short body/long hindleg morphology. In a paper redescribing the species, the average SVL of the male anoles they measured was 53.3-74.0 mm, and 49.6-66.5 mm in females.
They seem to rely heavily on the karst habitat with healthy populations being found in areas with diminished forest but intact limestone/cave areas.
Male Mexican cave anoles have dark red dewlaps with white lateral rows of scales, while females have smaller black dewlaps with a similar pattern.
Please read the paper redescribing this anole here! For a while there was only a specimen available of it and not much info, but they worked on it and you should check it out. I wouldn’t have been able to write this if it wasn’t for them.
Turns out grad school eats up a lot of your time some weeks. Who knew!
So here is a pretty cool Caribbean anole this week. Anolis acutus, the Sharp Anole is endemic to St. Croix. These anoles are tan to olive in colour. Their dewlaps are white with a large yellow-orange blotch closer to the body. Males have an average SVL of 67mm and females, about 49mm.
They are territorial and maintain hierarchies within their habitats. If an individual is removed, they become slightly agitated until the territory is taken over by a new anole or the individual returns (Ruibal & Philibosian, 1974). The adults also tend to be sedentary and have a perch height hierarchy, but exclude juveniles from occupied trees leaving them to find and occupy empty ones or live on the ground (Ruibal & Philibosian, 1974).
St Croix anoles appear to be eurythermal, meaning they have a broad temperature range (McManus & Nellis, 1973).
I almost missed that it’s been a year of #DidYouAnole!! Thank you for sticking with me and learning about these lizards!
For this super belated one year anniversary, I have both an anole and a request.
First, the anole!
Anolis rubribarbus is a trunk-ground anole from Cuba. Specifically the eastern half of the Holguín province, around the town of Sagua de Tánamo from whence it gets one of its common names. The Sagua de Tánamo anole lives in the rainforest and possibly on rocky montane habitat in its range.
It’s listed as endangered due to its very limited range.
Also known as the Cuban tiger anole, their dewlaps are yellow with orange stripes and they are tan to olive with darker vertical stripes, like a… you know… tiger.
Now for my request! I couldn’t find a lot about this anole’s ecology or natural history, so if you have worked on this species or know someone who does, please let me know!
In the meantime, here is a year in anoles from my Twitter, and from the blog!
Thank you! It means a lot to get to share these lizards with you.
Hello and welcome to my first post since officially starting as a grad student!
I think I’ve got my schedule down and we can get back to regular weekly anoles. Love that for us!
This week’s anole, Anolis gingivinus is also called the Anguilla Bank anole or Anguilla anole and is endemic to Anguilla and its satellite islands.
The Anguillan anole is reported to adapt well to anthropogenic effects on its habitat (Hailey et al, 2011) and to different niches, although its ecomorph affinities lie closest to being trunk-ground. They also seem to be abundant despite being heavily preyed on by American kestrels.
Male Anguillan anoles have an average SVL of 72mm and females have an average of 53mm. They are usually olive to greyish in colour with bright orange dewlaps, and have bold dorsal and lighter flank stripes. They also occasionally sport some green on their lower halves and males may have darker marbled spotting along their bodies. Anolis gingivinus are insectivorous but like many other anoles will eat smaller lizards.
This week’s anole, Anolis sabanus, can only be spotted on the island of Saba (Dutch W.I.).
Also called the Saban anole, this tan to pale grey coloured species is sexually dimorphic with males being covered with black spots/patches at an SVL of 29-72mm and females having a dorsal stripe and an SVL of 23-25mm. Their dewlaps are green or orange tinted.
In 2016, there was an introduction of the anole on the neighbouring island of Sint Eustatius. They belong to the bimaculatus series of anoles which includes other island endemics like Anolis oculatus (from my home island of Dominica).
Gina Zwicky, New Orleans based herper, is currently working on a study to see if there is a link between parasite pressure and the rise of immunity in generations of this anole, examining if evidence can be found of fluctuating selection in a natural population. Anoles are incredibly useful for research with their genomes being readily available for reference, how quickly they adapt and other factors. Island endemics especially are great research subjects due to their isolation which helps to eliminate certain other variables.
New natural history note: “Nocturnal foraging and activity by diurnal lizards: Six species of day gecko (Phelsuma spp.) using the night‐light niche”.
A set of observations, recently published in Austral Ecology, noted six different species of day gecko (Phelsuma spp.) using artificial light at night (ALAN) to engage in nocturnal activity (e.g., foraging, courtship, and agonistic behavior). Lizards of this genus are widely believed to be primarily diurnal, however, their propensity to colonize both urban and highly-modified habitats, as well as establish invasive populations within novel landscapes, suggests they are a taxon that is quite flexible and adaptable.
A blue‐tailed day gecko, Phelsuma cepediana, foraging for insects under a fluorescent light in Mauritius. Photo credit J. L. Riley.
Remind you of any other small- to medium-sized adaptable and diverse group of lizards?
Keen readers of the Anole Annals will recall several posts about the effect ALAN can have on anoles, including its impact on physiological stress, metabolism, invasive potential, and reproductive output. With many accounts noting the costs and benefits of shifting diel cycles and daily activity period, but also the general impact light pollution may have. No doubt, there remains a lot of research potential to examine similar questions for the many Phelsuma species across their native and invasive ranges.
Reunion ornate day geckos, Phelsuma inexpectata, engaging in nocturnal activity under a fluorescent light inside a bathroom in Manapany-Les-Bains, Reunion (A,B), including courtship behavior (C). Photos credits C. Baider and F.B.V. Florens.
It is always worth keeping your eyes peeled in the field.
The observations that led to this note came from nine researchers working in various sites, locations, and projects across a number of archipelagos spanning the Indian Ocean and over several years. As with many natural history observations, most of these accounts began with a researcher – who was no doubt occupied with an entirely different task – seeing something out of the ordinary, snapping a picture and jotting down some quick details, and carrying on with their work. A great reminder to never leave home without your trusty notebook; digital or otherwise. Then later on, sometimes much later, this information regarding “something weird you saw” is shared between colleagues, sometimes met with an “oh ya, I saw that too, different species, different location, but the same thing,” and from there, patterns emerge and collaborations bear fruit.
Over the years, Anoles Annals has featured a number of posts related to day geckos, with some keener anolologists expressing the feeling that these colorful, charismatic, and adaptable geckos could be seen as “honorary anoles.” A compliment, surely, the geckos would appreciate and reciprocate toward anoles, if given the chance. Despite their stunning appearance, long history of public awareness, and ability to sell car insurance, there remains a lot of information we do not know about day gecko behavior, biology, and ecology. We hope this natural history note will prompt further research interest into this enigmatic group of lizards.
In August, we published a paper in the Caribbean Journal of Science entitled, “Sleeping Behavior of the Secretive Puerto Rican Twig Anole, Anolis occultus.” Check out our new post on the Chipojo Lab blog about the paper!
Levi Storks, Manuel Leal. 2020. Sleeping Behavior of the Secretive Puerto Rican Twig Anole, Anolis occultus. Caribbean Journal of Science 50(1):178–87.
Predation event between a Praying Mantis (Mantodea: sp.) and a sub-adult female of Anolis cusuco. Photo Credit – George Lonsdale
Its quite rare that the tables are turned in the “anole eat insect” world. But in some cases, anoles instead find themselves becoming the prey.
A natural history note published September 2019 in the journal SAURIA details an unusual observation of anolivory by a Praying Mantis. Specifically, it discusses an event involving the predation of a sub-adult female Anolis (Norops) cusuco.
Anolis cusuco owes its name to its type locality in the cloud-forest of Cusuco National Park, Honduras, and is a species endemic to the country. Few publications exist regarding the natural history of this species and much regarding its ecology, including its potential predators, remain unknown. While a small contribution, this observation describes the first, albeit somewhat unsuspecting predator for Anolis cusuco.
Photo: Steve Maldonado Silvestrini, iNaturalist
