DISTRIBUTION OF MALARIA IN ANOLIS LIZARDS OF THE LUQUILLO FOREST, PUERTO-RICO - IMPLICATIONS FOR HOST COMMUNITY ECOLOGY

Five species of Anolis lizards of the Luquillo forest, Puerto Rico wer e surveyed for infection with malarial parasites. Two species of paras ite, Plasmodium floridense and P. azurophilum, commonly infect Anolis gundlachi. P. azurophilum also very rarely infects A. stratulus, A. kr ugi, A. evermanni, and A. cristatellus. For A. gundlachi, males are mo re often infected, and percent of animals infected increases with body size, but percent infected decreases for the very largest body size c lass in males. P. azumphilum is far more common than P. floridense, an d the two parasite species appear to associate randomly into mixed inf ections with no evidence for interspecific competition between malaria species. Infected A. gundlachi have a greater prevalence of injured t ails. The five anole species differ by body size (three large and two small species) and habitat used (shady cool places vs sunny warmer loc ations). A. gundlachi and A. evermanni are the only species that are s imilar in size that are often found in the same locations. Malarial in fection may mediate competition between these two species of lizards.