Display Diversity 
275 
Figure 7. DAP graphs of the Anolis nebulosus 
signature display (A) and an agonistic related 
signature display prefaced with an introductory 
movement (B). Upper block represents head 
amplitude movement through time, and lower 
block represents dewlap extension through time. 
Male A. nebulosus also perform shallow 
rapid head bobs during courtship and fre- 
quently expand and contract their dewlaps 
under various conditions (Jenssen, 1970). 
These behaviors, however, are not considered 
in my analysis of repertoire size because they 
are common to many anoles (not species- 
typical) and are not particularly stereotyped. 
In addition to the usual “dewlapping” and 
courtship-related rapid head bobs, the reper- 
toire of male Anolis limifrons from Panama 
includes five main display types (Fig. 8) 
(Jenssen and Hover, 1976, Hover and 
Jenssen, 1976). These five types have been 
designated A-E. Type A functions as the 
signature display (analogous to the nebu- 
losus assertion display) and is performed 
in several contexts ranging from assertion, to 
challenge, to courtship. Types B to E almost 
always involve male-male interactions. 
ANALYSIS OF DISPLAY BEHAVIOR 
Display analysis is not always straight- 
forward. A species may have several differ- 
ent stereotyped display patterns in its reper- 
toire, with some patterns being similar. 
Furthermore, each stereotyped display pat- 
tern may appear in conjunction with many 
display modifiers to produce a graded signal 
of varying elaboration. Therefore, one is 
faced with dissecting out elements of stereo- 
typy in order to distinguish one reoccurring 
display pattern from another, and evaluating 
the residue of display variability for its con- 
tribution to signal function. I suggest the 
following perspective for a display analysis. 
A display is a gestalt of postures and 
movements. From each display performance, 
one can quantify the presence or absence of 
body movements, (e.g., head nods, dewlap 
pulses) and postures (e.g., erected nuchal 
crest, lateral compression of body sides, 
mouth open, tongue out). One notes what is 
moved, how far it is moved, along what 
spatial coordinates it is moved, the rate of 
movement, the number of times a movement 
is repeated, and the coordination of all the 
moved parts through time. 
Having quantified the passive and active 
elements, one can now compare display per- 
formances to verify what is constant and 
what is variable. At this point of analysis 
there is a set of fundamental questions: (1) 
What passive and active elements are always 
present; (2) of those elements always pres- 
ent, how much variability exists in their 
expression from one display performance 
to the next; (3) does the change in magni- 
tude of a variable element correlate with a 
change in expression of some other element 
in the same display or to a change in social 
events; (4) of those elements not always 
present, are their appearances correlated 
with a change in expression of a permanent 
display element or to a change in social 
events; and (5) are the permanent and 
optional elements of a lizard’s displays 
similar to those of other conspecifics, or do 
some lizards have individual differences to 
their displays? 
By answering questions like the ones 
above, one can differentiate between different 
expressions of the same display type and 
between different display types, and have the 
descriptive data necessary for assessing 
communication potential of the display be- 
havior. 
I will now narrow the behavior under 
consideration. Because an anole’s stereotyped 
display pattern primarily incorporates verti- 
cal movements (Jenssen, 19776), dewlap 
