NO. 3595 ANOLIS LINEATOPUS — RAND 3 



Material and Methods 



Anolis lineatopus shows considerable geographic variation \\4thin 

 Jamaica. Those from the vicinity of Kingston are medium-sized 

 Anolis, the adult males about 50 to 70 mm in snout-vent length and 

 reaching about 8 to 9K grams in weight. The adidt females are 

 smaller, about 37 to 47 mm in snout- vent length and about 1% to 3 

 grams in M'eight. Both sexes are brown to gray brown in color. The 

 adult males are marked with irregular black bars. The females are 

 more variable and may be almost unicolor, or they may have a 

 diamond- or rhomb-shaped pattern on the back or a light middorsal 

 stripe. There is only limited color change, from light to dark. The 

 feet have the usual A7iolis form with moderately wide toe pads and 

 an intermediate number of lamellae (29-34 under second and third 

 phalanges on fourth toe). The dewlap or throat fan, large and light 

 yellow with an orange central spot, is well developed only in the male. 

 These are called A. lineatopus lineatopus by Underwood and Williams 

 (1959). 



Anolis are strictly diurnal and depend almost entirely on vision in 

 their social behavior and in locating food. They may respond to 

 sounds but seem to pay no attention to odors. 



Jamaica, at 18° north latitude, lies well within the tropics and there 

 is relatively little variation in temperature in the two wet and two 

 dry seasons. The Anolis are active year round and neither fighting, 

 courting, nor copidation seems seasonal. There does seem to be some 

 seasonal variation in the production of young: more in the wet season. 

 Whether this is due to variation in egg laying or in egg survival, I do 

 not know. 



In the dry lowlands on the south coast of Jamaica, A. I. lineatopus 

 is widespread and abundant but much more abundant in some places 

 than others. This is particularly striking when one is trying to collect 

 samples at predetermined intervals along a transect. In some cases 

 the differences in abundance are correlated with ecological differences, 

 but in others I could see no difference in habitat. 



The areas where this study was made were all much disturbed by 

 man. Those on which I concentrated were higtily artificial gardens, 

 the campus of the University of the West Indies, and roadside hedges 

 and fence rows. Relatively little time was spent in natural habitats 

 and no detailed studies were made therein. Little undisturbed 

 habitat is left in Jamaica and what remains is mangrove swamp, 

 scrub on dogtooth limestone and mountain forest, and all difficult of 

 access. Since the edificarian areas were easier to work in, closer at 

 hand and, most important, usually supported denser populations of 

 lizards, I concentrated on these areas. 



