Neotropical Green Anole, Anolis biporcatus
Neotropical Green Anole, Anolis biporcatus. Photographs taken in coastal Costa Rica, Febuary 2016. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.
The Neotropical Green Anole, Anolis biporcatus, is a member of the Dactyloidae Family of Anoles. The Dactyloidae Family consists of four hundred fifteen species placed into the single Anolis genus. This species is also known as the Giant Green Anole. In Mexico, they are known as Anolis Verde Neotropical.
Neotropical Green Anoles are stocky and short-legged with keeled ventral scales. They are typically bright green in color, but can change from emerald green to deep brown. This color change occurs by controlling the amount of melanin produced in their skin cells. The exact factors that cause this color change are unknown. Current theories involve their environment, temperature, stress level, and type of social interaction. While both sexes have small dewlaps, the male’s dewlap is typically a powder blue color proximally with a red-orange and yellow margin. The female’s dewlap is typically a white or blue color with black speckles. They reach a snout to vent length of approximately 7.0 cm (2.8 inches) to 10.5 cm (4.1 inches) and weigh up to 45 g (0.16 oz). Their tail length measures approximately twice the size of their body length. No sexual size dimorphism is present in this species.
Neotropical Green Anoles are diurnal and arboreal, seldom descending from the canopy. They perch on trunks at heights between 20 cm (7.9 inches) and 18 m (59 feet) above the ground. Their activity peaks during the rainy season. Reproduction is oviparous and females lay a single egg on a moss-covered branch. They are ambush predators and consume small to midsize arthropods including beetles, ants, and spiders. Additionally, they may also consume other lizards. Due to their arboreal nature, there is very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Neotropical Green Anole occurs from southern Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Chiapas Mexico through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, into northern Colombia and Venezuela. Their elevational range extends from sea level to 2,000 m (6,562 ft). They inhabit tropical lowland and premontane wet forests, gallery forests along rivers in tropical dry forest, and in roadside vegetation.
The Neotropical Green Anole may be confused with the Brown Anole, Anolis sagrei, due to their similar appearances and overlapping ranges. Brown Anoles tend to stay closer to the ground, while Green Anoles are more arboreal. Despite changing their color to brown, Green Anoles can still be distinguished from Brown Anoles by their longer, pointier snout and lack of dorsal markings. Adult male Green Anoles also lack the pronounced crest on their neck, back, and tail which are present on adult male Brown Anoles.
From a conservation perspective, the Neotropical Green Anole is considered to be of Least Concern due to their widespread range and local abundance. No major threats have been identified for this species.