Natural hybridization between two sibling species of Anolis lizards: chromosome cytology.

The Lesser Antillean lizards Anolis trinitatis and Anolis aenous were both apparently introduced to Trinidad where they are hybridizing. The parental species have 36 and 34 chromosomes, respectively. Hybrids have 35 chromosomes. Meiosis in hybrids is abnormal. There is an accumulation of cells at metaphase I, and poor homolog pairing, characterized by a low frequency of chiasmata and numerous univalents.

Phenoxyethanol: protein preservative for taxonomists.

Pieces of chicken heart or skeletal muscle were placed in a dilute solution of the antimicrobial agent 2-phenoxyethanol and stored at room temperature. Under these conditions, the serum albumin, lactate dehydrogenase, and malate dehydrogenase in these tissues survived in easily detectable amounts for at least 2 weeks. The surviving proteins appeared to be identical with those of fresh tissues in physical, catalytic, and immunological properties. Phenoxyethanol also preserved heart and muscle proteins of representatives of other vertebrate classes. Tissue samples collected in the analysis by biochemical taxonomists.

Water loss, desiccation tolerance, and survival under desiccating conditions in 11 species of Caribbean Anolis : Evolutionary and ecological implications.

1. Rates of water loss and tolerance to desiccation were examined in 11 species of Caribbean Anolis and the Sonoran desert iguanid lizard, Urosaurus ornatus. 2. Rates of water loss ranged from 0.07% body wt/h (A. bonairensis) to 0.43% body wt/h (A. distichus). 3. There were significant correlations between habitat rainfall and both the rates of water loss (P<0.005) and the maximum time of survival (LTmax) (P<0.01) for the 11 species of Anolis. Species from areas of low rainfall generally had lower rates of water loss and survived longer than species from areas of high rainfall. 4. There was no correlation between habitat rainfall and the ability to withstand desiccation; therefore differences in LTmax are probably the result of differences in rates of water loss. 5. Rates of water loss did not significantly correlate with either structural niche or ecomorphic category. 6. Since rates of water loss varied to a large degree within closely related species groups, there is apparently little phylogenetic inertia for this physiologic parameter.

Genetic variation in irradiated and control populations of Cnemidophorus tigris (sauria, teiidae) from Mercury, Nevada with a discussion of genetic variability in lizards.

Whiptail lizards (Cnemidophoms tigris) were collected from fenced irradiated, fenced control, and unfenced areas near Mercury Nevada. No changes in allele frequencies at 26 allozyme loci could be ascribed to irradiation or fencing. This species is the most polymorphic and heterozygous lizard so far examined. - Heterozygosity estimates derived from electrophoretic studies on 20 additional species of lizards are compared with Cnemidophorus. A general trend seems to emerge. Fossorial lizards have uniformly low levels of heterozygosity (ca. 1 %). Territorial "sit and wait" predators are intermediate (ca. 5%). Highly vagile apparently nonterritorial lizards are the most heterozygous (ca. 10%). Assuming that this trend does not reflect some of sampling error, two current, non-mutually exclusive hypotheses explain the observed situation: (1) the niche width variation hypothesis predicts, higher variability in populations where individuals are exposed to largescale environmental heterogeneity; and (2) the population size hypothesis predicts that, all other things being equal, vagility would tend to increase the effective population size by reducing inbreeding, which would promote higher levels of genetic variation.