A developmental staging series is the foundation of experimental and comparative embryology. It provides the standard reference to which perturbed embryonic development can be prepared. Developmental staging series also provide the baseline to which species with different morphologies can be compared so that one can predict which developmental processes were modified during during evolution. I wrote the first developmental staging table for Anolis lizards in 2008. Since then we’ve learned a lot more about the development of our model species, A. sagrei, but this still provides the best reference for the genus. Two caveats:

- We have realized that there is variation in the rate of development among populations of A. sagrei. The sequence does not appear to vary, only the rate at which the embryo progresses through these stages. This original staging series is was constructed from females collected from the Tampa area.

- My lab has been working heavily on craniofacial and toe pad development. More refined data is rapidly becoming available for these traits. One of my graduate students is also constructing a three-dimensional staging table for A. sagrei using CT data. I will be updating this page and others in coming months with these data. Descriptions of these stages will be added during these updates. Please contact me if these are of interest to you.