Learn all about it within the Journal of Herpetology:
Summary:
Pre-Pleistocene fossils of Anolis lizards from the mainland of the Americas are exceedingly uncommon: solely two specimens referred to a single species have been described beforehand. Right here we report on a 3rd specimen, preserved (as are the opposite two) in Miocene amber from Chiapas, Mexico, and consisting primarily of the anterior vertebrae of the caudal sequence. Regardless of the fragmentary nature of the fossil, it preserves key osteological characters that allow assured referral to the Anolis clade and additional recommend placement inside the Dactyloa subclade in a clade of three extant species inside the Anolis aequatorialis collection. The Chiapan provenance of the fossil signifies that the geographic distribution of the Dactyloa clade (and presumably that of the A. aequatorialis collection) prolonged significantly farther north in the course of the Miocene. Though the brand new fossil represents a distinct a part of the physique than the 2 fossils representing the fossil species Anolis electrum, its inferred phylogenetic relationships are the identical as one of many a number of potential phyloge
Professor of Biology and Director of the Dwelling Earth Collaborative at Washington College in Saint Louis. I’ve spent my total skilled profession learning anoles and have found that the extra I study anoles, the extra I notice I do not know.
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