We investigated the mechanistic basis for the observed correlation between leg length and perch size among West Indian Anolis lizards by testing the hypothesis that species use those perches upon which they can move most effectively. We used four Anolis species which differed in leg length and perch use in nature. We measured maximum sprint speed on rods of several sizes. Longer-legged species ran faster on thick rods. The speed of all species declined on thinner rods, but long-legged species were affected to a greater extent in that all species ran at approximately the same speed on the smallest rod. The short-legged A. valencienni experienced much less difficulty moving on thin rods than did the other species. Variation in leg length among Anolis might thus represent an evolutionary trade-off between maximizing sprint speed and maximizing stability on thin perches.
In the field: an interview with Martha Muñoz
Martha Muñoz is an Assistant Professor at Yale University, investigating the evolutionary biology of anole lizards and lungless salamanders. In our new Conversation, she talks about her fieldwork in Indonesia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and the Appalachian Mountains, including a death-defying dash to the top of a mountain through an approaching hurricane.
Graham Scott in conversation with Big Biology
Graham Scott talks to Big Biology about the oxygen cascade in mice living on mountaintops, extreme environments for such small organisms. In this JEB-sponsored episode, they discuss the concept of symmorphosis and the evolution of the oxygen cascade.
Trap-jaw ants coordinate tendon and exoskeleton for perfect mandible arc
-AntJaws.png?versionId=3942)
Trap-jaw ants run the risk of tearing themselves apart when they fire off their mandibles, but Greg Sutton & co have discovered that the ants simultaneously push and pull the mandibles using energy stored in a head tendon and their exoskeleton to drive the jaws in a perfect arc.
Hearing without a tympanic ear
-Review.png?versionId=3942)
In their Review, Grace Capshaw, Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Catherine Carr explore the mechanisms of hearing in extant atympanate vertebrates and the implications for the early evolution of tympanate hearing.
Social media
