Evidence for ecological tuning of anuran biofluorescent signals.

Although biologists have described biofluorescence in a diversity of taxa, there have been few systematic efforts to document the extent of biofluorescence within a taxonomic group or investigate its general significance. Through a field survey across South America, we discover and document patterns of biofluorescence in tropical amphibians. We more than triple the number of anuran species that have been tested for this trait.

A new giant anole (Squamata: Iguanidae: Dactyloinae) from southwestern Ecuador.

We describe a new species of Anolis lizard from the Pacific slopes of the Andes of southwestern Ecuador at elevations between 3721,000 m. The new species belongs to the Dactyloa clade and may be distinguished from other Anolis by size, external anatomy, mitochondrial DNA divergence, and dewlap color. Based on phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data, we found that the new species is sister to A.

Repeated evolution of underwater rebreathing in diving Anolis lizards.

Air-based respiration limits the use of aquatic environments by ancestrally terrestrial animals. To overcome this challenge, diving arthropods have evolved to respire without resurfacing using air held between their cuticle and surrounding water. Inspired by natural history observations in Haiti (unpublished data) and Costa Rica, we conducted experiments documenting routine air-based underwater respiration in several distantly related semi-aquatic Anolis lizard species.

A new cryptic species of lizard from northwestern South America (Iguanidae, Dactyloinae).

A new species of lizard from the Andean slopes of southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador, from between 1187 and 2353 m in elevation, is described. The new species can be distinguished from other in squamation, cranial osteology, hemipenial morphology, and nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. The new species is sister to , and it is suggested that previous records of in Colombia correspond to the new species described herein.

Comparative Evolution of an Archetypal Adaptive Radiation: Innovation and Opportunity in Anolis Lizards.

Adaptive radiation is a widely recognized pattern of evolution wherein substantial phenotypic change accompanies rapid speciation. Adaptive radiation may be triggered by environmental opportunities resulting from dispersal to new areas or via the evolution of traits, called key innovations, that allow for invasion of new niches. Species sampling is a known source of bias in many comparative analyses, yet classic adaptive radiations have not been studied comparatively with comprehensively sampled phylogenies.

A Phylogenetic, Biogeographic, and Taxonomic study of all Extant Species of Anolis (Squamata; Iguanidae).

Anolis lizards (anoles) are textbook study organisms in evolution and ecology. Although several topics in evolutionary biology have been elucidated by the study of anoles, progress in some areas has been hampered by limited phylogenetic information on this group. Here, we present a phylogenetic analysis of all 379 extant species of Anolis, with new phylogenetic data for 139 species including new DNA data for 101 species.

A new species of dactyloid anole (Iguanidae, Polychrotinae, Anolis) from the southeastern slopes of the Andes of Ecuador.

We describe a new species of Anolis from the southeastern slopes of the Andes of Ecuador, province of Zamora-Chinchipe, Parque Nacional Podocarpus. It belongs to (1) the aequatorialis species-group by being of moderate to large size with narrow toe lamellae, and (2) the eulaemus sub-group by having a typical Anolis digit, in which the distal lamellae of phalanx II distinctly overlap the proximal scales of phalanx I. The new species is most similar morphologically to Anolis fitchi but differs from it mainly by having a dewlap with longitudinal rows of 2-5 granular, minute scales separated by naked skin (longitudinal rows of one or two keeled, large scales separated by naked skin in Anolis fitchi) and a vertically shorter dewlap (longer dewlap in Anolis fitchi).