SREL Reprint #2041

Morphological characteristics of the lizard, Anolis carolinensis, from South Carolina

Thomas A. Jenssen, Justin D. Congdon, Robert U. Fischer, Ruth Estes, David Kling, and Suzanne Edmands

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory Drawer E, Aiken, SC, 29802 USA

Abstract: We report morphometric data for 721 Anolis carolinensis from a pine-oak community near Aiken, South Carolina. We recorded an adult male:female ratio of 1.18:1. For our sample, a sexual dimorphism of larger males was reflected in snout-vent length (SVL) and body mass, with an average 10% bias for SVL and 30% for mass. Proportioned to respective SVL, tail length, head length, and head width tended to be larger in males. However, reduced major axis analyses indicated that these sex-biased dimorphisms were isometric, primarily reflecting the same male-larger scale relationship, and not disproportionate sexual dimorphic morphologies. The percent frequency of regenerated tails was unusually low (8%) and similar for both sexes. Coefficients of body condition indicated that lizards were heaviest during the post-breeding season (August-November) and lightest during the breeding season (April-July). Comparison of data from our population in South Carolina to those from other conspecific populations and anoline species suggests that (1) the intersexual difference in SVL increases with latitude, (2) the SVL/tail length ratio of A. carolinensis is intermediate between anoline "jumpers" and "runners", indicating a generalist at locomotion, and (3) at present, the sexual selection hypothesis, in contrast to the competition avoidance hypothesis or the female fecundity hypothesis, best explains the sexual size dimorphism observed in a northern latitude population of A. carolinensis.

Keywords: Anolis carolinensis; Coefficient of condition; Locomotion; Morphology; Sexual dimorphism

SREL Reprint #2041

Jenssen, T.A., J.D. Congdon, R.U. Fischer, R. Estes, D. Kling, and S. Edmands. 1995. Morphological characteristics of the lizard, Anolis carolinensis, from South Carolina. Herpetologica 51:401-411.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).