Who knows how far this fellow’s genes will spread through Asia?
These pages have chronicled the appearance of the brown anole (Anolis sagrei) in farflung places around the globe, including throughout the Caribbean, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Taiwan, among others. A new paper in Nature in Singapore reports a first: an established population in mainland Asia, in Singapore. The site of the invasion, and apparently for now the only locality for the population, is a new park, Gardens by the Bay. As Wikipedia reports, Gardens by the Bay is ”an integral part of a strategy by the Singapore government to transform Singapore from a “Garden City” to a ‘City in a Garden’. The stated aim is to raise the quality of life by enhancing greenery and flora in the city.” Like many invasive anole populations, this one probably was founded by stowaway lizards or eggs transported in potted plants, but this is just conjecture.
As a sidenote, as far as I am aware, this paper is the first to implement the new Nicholson et al. anole classification, explicitly citing the paper as rationale for referring to the species as Norops sagrei.
From the pictures, it seems there’s a fair amount of orange on both body and dewlap in this population. I wonder where the park got its plants from and how big the initial propagule was.
Anolis sagrei never fails to impress with its ability to spread far and wide. Beyond the possible ecological interactions, I wonder if all these anole invasions are accompanied by the introduction of novel pathogens and if there are consequences we do not yet see.
Singapore is an island, so they haven’t quite made it to the main yet.
But soon, I’m sure!
On my last visit to Singapore (December 2012), I saw an anole on a tree along the riverbank near Robertson Quay – so they seem to have spread further than the Gardens by the Bay park already!