Green anole
Anolis carolinensis
— Where the name comes from
Anolis comes from anoli, the name of these lizards in the Carib languages of the Lesser Antilles, collected by French settlers. Carolinensis names the Carolinas. In America it is often called the American chameleon because it shifts from green to brown, but it has nothing to do with chameleons: it changes colour with temperature and mood, not to hide.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Squamates
- Habitat
- Trees, hedges, fences, gardens, walls
- Range
- The south-eastern United States; introduced to Hawaii and Japan
- Size
- 12–20 cm including the tail, 3–7 g
- Diet
- Spiders, crickets, flies, moths
- Lifespan
- 6 years
— Characteristics
- 01
The male unfurls a bright pink throat fan and does press-ups to be seen.
- 02
It has adhesive lamellae under its toes, like a gecko.
- 03
It was the first reptile to have its whole genome sequenced.
— What sets it apart
Its genus is the textbook case of repeated evolution. On the four great islands of the Caribbean the anoles have independently produced the same trades — the twig specialist with short legs; the trunk specialist with long ones; the canopy dweller, green and stocky; the grass dweller, slender with a very long tail — and species doing the same job on different islands resemble each other more than they resemble their own close relatives on the same island. It is as if evolution, set the same problem four times, had given the same four answers.
