![]() People have been studying the six traditional body types for decades, but until now, they hadn’t found evidence for a seventh. In our study, we found strong evidence for a seventh body type made up of species adapted to a primarily ground-dwelling lifestyle. There are six main ecomorphs recognized for anoles of the Greater Antilles islands in the Caribbean. This allows them to coexist in the same location by reducing competition for space and food. ![]() When several anole species live together in a community, they will adapt and specialize to different parts of the habitat. The ones that live on leaves are usually green. The ones that creep along on small twigs have shorter limbs and often have prehensile, or grasping, tails. The ones that live close to the ground and jump around a lot tend to have longer limbs. With anoles, the species tend to fit into different ecomorphs, or body shapes, adapted to living in different parts of the forest. Recently, we published a paper on ecomorphology in Anolis lizards, which are found throughout the Americas, but mostly in the tropics. It’s the idea that the ecology of an animal, like where it lives and what it eats, influences its morphology, or the size and shape of its body. One of the topics I study is called ecological morphology - ecomorphology, for short. Morris)Ĭan you talk about your most recent research paper, which analyzed the museum’s collection of anole lizards? When Smithsonian research zoologist Kevin de Queiroz isn’t caring for the Museum’s reptile and amphibian collections or pondering evolution, he’s out maintaining trails and riding mountain bikes. I’m sure many of our early collectors didn’t imagine that was possible. Today, there are lots of people using new and established technologies on old specimens to study things from climate change to infectious diseases to genetics.įor example, there was one study a couple years ago where researchers were able to determine the age and life history of salamanders in our collection by taking cross-sections of their limb bones, similar to how we use tree rings. Early on, the main thing museum collections were used for was taxonomy, or figuring out relatedness between organisms, as well as comparative anatomy. There are all kinds of things our specimens are used for that the early collectors probably never anticipated. The other 800,000 or so specimens are being used in scientific research both by people at the museum, like me, and scientists all over the world. The reptiles we have on exhibit at the Museum are just a tiny fraction of what we have in our collection. Now as the curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Smithsonian, you work with a lot of preserved specimens. But the more I learned about it, the more I thought, ‘yeah, this is what I want,’ and I never changed my mind. At the time, I still had no clue what studying reptiles actually meant. I don’t remember exactly when this was - I was maybe ten or twelve years old - but as soon as I found out that people study reptiles, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. But with amphibians and reptiles, you can actually hold them in your hand and look at them up close, which is what appealed to me the most. I think I gravitated to them because other animals, especially mammals and birds, are difficult to get close to. Some of my earliest memories are of amphibians and reptiles. Why amphibians and reptiles? How did you develop an interest for scaly, slimy animals and not the cute, furry ones? Having the world’s largest natural history collection on hand for reference certainly doesn’t hurt either.ĭe Queiroz is the curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and for this month’s “ Meet a SI-entist,” we caught up with him to talk about the evolution of lizard legs and the joys of unplanned discoveries. ![]() But that’s what Kevin de Queiroz loves most about his job as a research zoologist. (goatling, CC BY 2.0)Ĭontemplating the diversity of life on Earth can be an overwhelming task. The vast diversity of anole lizards found throughout the Americas helps scientists understand what factors drive the evolution of life.
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