Any reason to think these anoles, which arrived on Canouan in a container, presumably from Florida, are anything other than Anolis carolinensis?
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Hispanioland
Hi Bob, from the first photo I say A. porcatus (sub-adult male?)… Although I haven’t handled A. carolinensis, we have been dealing with some new populations within the DR (and many individuals at all age stages). The snout shape and tip points out pretty much towards porcatus. Any closer shot taken outside of the bag please?
Robert Powell
Unfortunately, these are the images I received. Not sure we can effectively distinguish porcatus from carolinensis — and we don’t know for sure where in Florida the shipment originated.
Hispanioland
Maybe it would help If they send a photo of the dewlap (hopefully they have an adult male), or they just take a tail tip for DNA (If is that important to determine which species).
Hispanioland
Looking more closely, toepads don’t look as broad as in A. porcatus though. Are those photographs from two different animals?
Robert Powell
These are two different individuals. The quarantine officer on Canouan found a total of four anoles in the container.
Wes Chun
The top photo resembles porcatus, based (as Hispanioland said) on the shape of the snout. The bottom photo is, I think, carolinensis. I have only seen the irregular, dorsolateral dark line over the shoulder in the latter species.
Jonathan Losos
Update: This introduction was written up as a brief note in the December, 2011 issue of IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians, Vol. 18(4): p.247.