Anolis desechensis is a member of the A. cristatellus species complex from Puerto Rico. Found only on the tiny island of Desecheo, very little is known about its natural history. In fact, some might question whether it should be a distinct species, but in the absence of any data, it’s hard to say.
This lovely photo comes from the Facebook page of Island Conservation, a wonderful organization devoted–as its name implies–to the conservation of island biota. I just heard a talk yesterday crediting them for eradicating rats from an island in the Galapagos, paving the way for preservation of a unique giant tortoise race. But that’s another story.
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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Skip Lazell
As I recall, A. desechensis is very distinct from cristatellus: a classic small island knock-off like A. ernestwilliamsi of Carrot Rock, BVI – also on the PR Bank. Skip
Kevin de Queiroz
Spectacular crest! I’m curious why you say that there are no data relevant to the status of Anolis desechensis as a species. What about Rodriguez-Robles et al. (Evolutionary relationships and historical biogeography of Anolis desechensis and Anolis monensis, two lizards endemic to small islands in the eastern Caribbean Sea)?
Jonathan Losos
Well, it all depends on how you want to recognize species. The Rodriguez-Robles et al. paper not surprisingly finds desechensis nested within cristatellus, which some might argue would suggest that it should not be accorded species status. More importantly to me, if my recollection serves, the morphological basis for originally describing the species was so insubstantial that the author vacillated on whether to recognize it as a distinct species or not. I guess my point would be that more detailed study of whatever characters might make desechensis distinctive needs to be conducted in the context of variation within the clade to which it belongs.
Rich Glor
Great photo.
Skip Lazell
Speciation by isolation is a relentlessly paraphyletic process. Skip
Hal Brindley
I photographed a very similar looking species on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands but am having a very hard time finding any official references to what species it might be. Does anyone recognize this? http://halbrindley.com/images/anole.jpg
Robert Powell
It’s a quite spectacular Anolis cristatellus.
Hal Brindley
Thanks Robert. I figured it must be A cristatellus. But as you say, it did have a pretty spectacular crest so it had me wondering.
Jonathan Losos
The neck and body crests are not permanent–they indicate a very agitated, aggressive male!