Tag: Anolis cuvieri

#DidYouAnole – Anolis cuvieri


Photo by Jorge Velez-Juarbe, iNaturalist

Happy Anole Day!

Here’s another crown-giant anole, Anolis cuvieri, the Puerto Rican Giant anole.


Photo

The Puerto Rican Giant anole is, as the name suggests, native to Puerto Rico. These anoles typically have an SVL of 132 mm, and both sexes have large tail crests. While these bright green anoles can turn darken and turn brown, this species also has a rare brown morph! Juvenile cuvieri are grey-brown with striping and shift to their signature green when they mature.


Photo by Graham Reynolds

They eat insects, mainly beetles, moths and butterflies, and also occasionally fruit, snails, birds and of course, other anoles.


Photo by sas103, iNaturalist

Puerto Rican Giant anoles prefer rainforest and can be found where there are lots of large trees together.

Rare(ish) Puerto Rican Anoles

Another Revell Lab (Liam, Kristin, Graham) trip to Puerto Rico this spring, and another series of encounters with the diminutive Anolis occultus and the spectacular Anolis cuvieri. Both of these species can be quite challenging to find, but we have had some good success in several locations in the Puerto Rican karst region.  In January, we observed many individuals of both species

            

And managed to get a few in-hand for pictures

    

We also found a juvenile cuvieri, which has a gray coloration and an ontogenetic shift to green as they age:

Unless they happen to be one of the brown morph adults,

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