Anolis sabanus

Anolis sabanus, or the Saban anole, is a species of anole lizard that is endemic to the island of Saba, a Dutch municipality in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles.

Anolis sabanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Dactyloidae
Genus: Anolis
Species:
A. sabanus
Binomial name
Anolis sabanus
Garman, 1887
Synonyms

Anolis sabanis — Baumeister, 2000

Males measure from 29–72 millimetres (1.1–2.8 in) (snout-to-vent), and females measure from 23–25 millimetres (0.91–0.98 in).[1] Males and females both have pale grey to tan colored bodies and pale yellow with green or orange tint dewlaps, but the males can be differentiated by additional dark patches covering their bodies. Females additionally have a mid-dorsal stripe. The species eats mostly small insects.[2] While the species is rare by being endemic (only found on the island of Saba), it is very common on the island.

Biologists believe the origin of the species may come from Saint Croix, and that it is older than the present-day anoles found on Sint Eustatius, Saint Martin and Saint Kitts.[2] Within the bimaculatus series, it belongs to the Guadeloupean-Dominican clade of anoles, which includes A. marmoratus on the Guadeloupe Archipelago, A. lividus on Montserrat, A. nubilus on Redonda, and A. oculatus on Dominica.[3]

See also

References
  1. Staats, C. M. and J. J. Schall, 1996. Malarial parasites (Plasmodium) of Anolis lizards: Biogeography in the Lesser Antilles. Biotropica 28:388-393.
  2. Saban Anole. Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  3. See Stenson, Thorpe & Malhotra 2004 and Schneider, Losos & de Queiroz 2001 generally for descriptions and charts of these relationships, and the methodology used. A. nubilus was omitted by Schneider for lack of data; see discussion in Stenson, Thorpe & Malhotra 2004, p. 7.
  • Malhotra, Anita; Thorpe, Roger S. (1999), Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean, Macmillan Education Ltd., p. 61, ISBN 0-333-69141-5
  • Schneider, Christopher J.; Losos, Jonathan B.; de Queiroz, Kevin (2001), "Evolutionary Relationships of the Anolis bimaculatus Group from the Northern Lesser Antilles", J. Herpetol., 35 (1): 1–12, doi:10.2307/1566016, JSTOR 1566016
  • Stenson, Andrew G.; Thorpe, Roger S.; Malhotra, Anita (2004), "Evolutionary differentiation of bimaculatus group anoles based on analyses of mtDNA and microsatellite data", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 32 (1): 1–10, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.12.008, PMID 15186792
Saban anole on rocks


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