Sleep-site fidelity in two Puerto Rican lizards

Picking a tree: habitat use by the tree agama, Acanthocercus atricollis atricollis, in South Africa

“…Similarly, there were no age-related differences in habitat use; both adults and juveniles occupied similar trees. However, adult males perched higher above ground than juveniles, as is the case for many other lizard taxa (reviewed in Chandler & Tolson 1990;Clark & Gillingham 1990). Interestingly, adults perched significantly higher above ground at night compared to during the day.…”

“…Differences in diurnal versus nocturnal habitat use have been reported for several lizard taxa (e.g. Chandler & Tolson 1990;Clark & Gillingham 1990). Several plausible explanations exist for this relationship, the most likely of which include thermal preferences (Christian et al 1983;Goto & Osborne 1989), social constraints (Chandler & Tolson 1990), and antipredatory tactics (Chandler & Tolson 1990;Clarke & Gillingham 1990;Vitt et al 2002).…”

Uso nocturno de perchas en dos especies de Anolis (Squamata: Polychrotidae) en un bosque Andino de Colombia

“…Además, las hojas y partes más distales de las perchas resultan más "débiles", de manera que no podrían soportar el peso adicional de un depredador sin que la lagartija fuera alertada de su presencia (Chandler & Tolson, 1990). La posición de las lagartijas con el hocico hacia el tallo de la hoja podría de igual manera advertir al animal de la presencia de depredadores tales como serpientes que se aproximarían por la base de la hoja, más que por el ápice (Clark & Gillingham, 1990).…”

“…Esto implica que los sitios usados para dormir, además de ser adecuados para descansar, deben proporcionar la máxima seguridad durante este período de inactividad (Clark & Gillingham, 1990). Algunos autores consideran que la selección de percha para dormir podría tener implicaciones en la termorregulación (Christian et al, 1984) o en la posibilidad de exhibir despliegues frente a conespecíficos al momento de reiniciar sus actividades (Andrews, 1971;Echeverry, 1996).…”

Distribution extension for Anolis salvini Boulenger, 1885 (Reptilia: Squamata: Dactyloidae), in western Panama

“…Anolis salvini inhabits intermediate 2) females 5.6-11 (9.5 ± 1.2) Subdigital lamellae under phalanges II-IV of 4 th toe 25-34 (29.2 ± 2) Number of scales between supraocular semicircles 0-1 (0.5 ± 0.5) Number of scales between interparietal and supraocular semicircles 1-3 (1.6 ± 0.6) Number of scales between suboculars and supralabials 0 Number of supralabials to level below center of eye 6-8 (7 ± 0.6) Number of infralabials to level below center of eye 5-8 (6.7 ± 0.7) Total number of loreals 12-39 (21.1 ± 5.9) Number of horizontal loreal scale rows 2-4 (2.9 ± 0.5) Number of postrostrals 5-9 (6.3 ± 1.1) Number of postmentals 4-9 (5.9 ± 1.7) Number of scales between nasals 5-7 (5.8 ± 0.7) Number of scales between 2 nd canthals 4-7 (5.7 ± 0.9) Number of scales between posterior canthals 5-9 (7.1 ± 1.1) Number of medial dorsal scales in one head length 20-46 (37.4 ± 5.3) Number of medial ventral scales in one head length 20-58 (44.8 ± 7.2) Scales around midbody 106-142 (125.4 ± 9.4) elevations to more than 2000 m asl, where temperature easily drops below 15°C at night. Albeit the most important predators for sleeping anoles are arthropods (McCormick and Polis 1982;Clark and Gillingham 1990), which should not be deterred from attacking by a prey's distress sounds. Milton and Jenssen (1979) could not identify a correlation between the ability of different anoles to vocalize and their phylogenetic relationship, geographic distribution, or habitat preference.…”