Photo: Steve Silvestrini, iNaturalist
Hello again!
I thought we’d continue with very small anoles and so I picked another grass-bush anole! Anolis pulchellus, also known as the Puerto Rican bush anole or the Sharp-mouthed lizard (locally).
This anole is from Puerto Rico, but is also found on the islands of Culebra, Vieques, and a majority of the Virgin Islands. The Sharp-mouthed lizard is one of the most common lizards in Puerto Rico. They have an average SVL of 35-43 mm and are yellow-brown in colour with a lateral tan stripe from its mouth to the base of its tail. The dewlaps of the males are purple at the neck, fading into crimson.
Photo: Alex Gunderson, Twitter
It has been reported to show aquatic tendencies, jumping into nearby water when approached and swimming to safety. They are also able to sit on the surface of the water without penetrating it, and when submerged, they have a silvery appearance due to a thin layer of air surrounding its body, much like Anolis aquaticus.
In another unexpected move from this tiny anole, it has also been found engaging in carnivory. Carnivory tends to be common in anoles, but usually in the ones larger than the grass-bush ecomorph, think Crested Anoles, and they eat lizards smaller themselves. Here you can find a report of a Sharp-mouth lizard consuming a Big-scaled Dwarf gecko.
Photo: Kevin de Queiroz, Jonathan Losos
Evidence also suggests that Sharp-mouthed anoles may be hybridising with another, very similar grass anole found in Puerto Rico, Anolis krugi. Check out the post (and paper) on this here.
![Anolis alutaceus [image] | EurekAlert! Science News](https://i0.wp.com/www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/web/23297_web.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1)
