Searching for the Elusive Allison’s Anole in South Florida

Driven by my quest to find Allison’s anoles (A. Allisoni) in the wild, a few weeks ago I dove into a pit of research papers to look for known sightings and/or colonies of A. Allisoni in Florida. I came upon a few vague notations of a colony in Naples with an address included. So, as part of a herping trip for various anoles and lizards to Miami last week, I stopped in Naples along the way.

I drove to the address and, after parking and entering the area, the first thing I saw was a large male specimen of A. Allisoni perched on the side of a palm tree. Shocked and delighted, I snapped a picture.

To see such a beautiful species of anole in Florida in the wild was breathtaking.

The male allisoni was perched on the palm tree with one large male A. sagrei (brown anole) below him. As I approached the palm to get a clearer picture, the sagrei leaped off the palm onto a smaller scrub, and the allisoni followed right after. The two briefly scuffled, nipping at each other before both went their separate ways and I did not see them again.

Strolling around the area to search for more, I found a very small green juvenile anole. It appeared to be allisoni, but did not give me enough time to properly examine it before scuttling up a tree and into the canopy.

Upon returning to the same spot where the first allisoni was, there was another just a few feet away that I had somehow missed the first time. This one had no hints of blue on its head, but simply from its large size, I took a guess that it was an allisoni. After succeeding at capturing it, I took a picture:

Upon first glance, it seemed to be A. carolinensis. However, on a closer look, both the shape of the ear hole and the large scales on the snout suggested allisoni. Here’s a picture of A. carolinensis for comparison:

For the genetics experts reading this, is there evidence of allisoni interbreeding with carolinensis?

Upon revisiting the address the next day, I searched in the same place I found the first allisoni, and, sure enough, found another one, this time suspected to be a female.