A couple species of anole have been introduced to Florida and some other areas of the US. Shown above is a Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei), introduced to the southern US from the Caribbean.
A Brown Anole apparently feeling safe in a hornbill cage. Photo credit: Jonathan Chua.
This lizard was practically ignored by the hornbill in the cage which seemed to have had plenty for lunch.
Captured with a 1/2-inch sensor bridge camera and the jpeg generated in-camera for review had shown a washed-out lizard belly. But there was apparently plenty of details in the raw file once converted in post.
i thought the first one was the smallest i would ever find. i was Wrong
Delightful indeed! First looks to be Anolis sagrei, and the gecko looks to be Gehyra mutilata by my guess, though hard to say on either from these pictures.
inspired by @starfoozle's poll - happy national invasive species week!
visual supplement below (and some help narrowing down the list) provided by @obeetlebeetle
Florida Gecko: Sphaerodactylus notatus, also known as the Florida reef gecko or brown-speckled sphaero (correction: a Brown Anole Anolis Sagrei - thank you consciousshellfish) a small species of gecko native to Florida and the Caribbean. Wikipedia
Most of the male anoles I see around here are the lightweight morphs — little heads, pretty skittish — but every once in a while a heavyweight bruiser tries to fight me for ownership of the arbor or a gutter segment or some other such lizard-amenable turf. The invasive brown anole (Anolis sagrei) still isn’t a presence where I live, so the native green ones (A. carolinensis) remain common lower to the ground.
I’m pretty sure they’re technically lumped into the trunk-crown ecomorph, but that doesn’t stop them from bullying me out of the garden from anywhere they damn well please. Just look at the dewlap on that sucker. You know how much bite force he probably has? Neither do I, but I’m not risking it. I haven’t got any dewlap at all, and I’m pretty sure that tips the scales in his favor.
Date taken: June 18, 2023
Location: Northwest Florida
Shot with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70 using the DMW-LC55 macro lens and DMW-LA8 adapter tube, on Programmed Auto mode.
View the iNaturalist observation for this image here.
absolutely enamored with this itty bitty little guy we got in today - he’s a newly-hatched Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) who accidentally hitchhiked here to Michigan from Florida!
Green Anole (Anolis Carolinensis) doin a sexy lounge
(he's brown in this picture and is sitting in-between the two circles sexily)
Ok so get ready to be confused
They are invasive, sometimes
The native green Anole and the introduced Cuban Anole are so similar that the only way to reliably distinguish them is through genetics. I'm honestly super confused on them myself and it is only through doing research on this blog post that they aren't always invasive.
The brown anole (Anolis sagrei) is the more invasive species they look very different from the green Anole though (even when the green guys turn brown)- I've never actually seen one of these guys before and this post is starting to dive into things I don't fully understand (like the complexities of the Anole genus) people who know all about anoles please reblog this correcting my misinformation.
Fun facts about the Green Anole:
They turn brown when they are cold, stressed, or scared
Males have a pink red frill under their neck which they use to attract potential mates and in territorial disputes
Brown anoles (their cousin) can't turn green but can turn gray or black
The frill is called a dewlap and females have smaller ones
(this one is personal experience) I think they're pretty docile, I mean they're definitely going to run away if you try and hold them but they let you get pretty close (be careful handling wild animals though)
They are an arboreal species but you see them everywhere
These guys are some of my favorite little guys I hope you enjoyed this post
Geckos we’re too high up to get a good picture, but I sent a picture of a tiny anole, maybe(?) I caught 🦎
Still can't post submissions for some reason but yes it looks to be an Anolis sagrei or brown anole!! A very good catch might I add because these guys are usually really fast.
When I was little I used to let them bite my ears and walk around with little anole earrings