Invasive Anolapalooza In Saint Martin

Anolis cristatellus moving in on St. Martin. Photo by Mark Yokoyama

Mark Yokoyama has just published a review of the introduced reptiles and amphibians of St. Martin, where he lives, and there are a lot of them, including several anoles. Anolis cristatellus has apparently just arrived at some resorts and may be spreading, and A. sagrei has been there for a while. We recently discussed another article in the same issue of IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians, which reported that A. sagrei is now in the Turks and Caicos and may be interacting with a A. scriptus, a close relative of A. cristatellus. If A. sagrei and A. cristatellus become well-established on St. Martin, it will be interesting to see what happens when they come into contact. Of course, more importantly is how they will interact with the native species, A. gingivinus, which is ecologically moderately similar to these two trunk-ground anoles, and A. pogus, which is small and potentially a prey item, especially for the more robust A. cristatellus.

Yokoyama also notes of an apparently short-lived invasion of A. bimaculatus in the 90’s and an enigmatic single specimen of A. marmoratus collected a half century ago.

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Jonathan Losos

Professor of Biology and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in Saint Louis. I've spent my entire professional career studying anoles and have discovered that the more I learn about anoles, the more I realize I don't know.

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