Species:
Anolis carolinensis
Green Anole
Some other names for this species:
Carolina Anole, American Chameleon
Subspecies I've seen:
Subspecies:
Anolis carolinensis carolinensis
Northern Green Anole
December 26, 1998
Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, Florida
Green Anoles are the only anole species native to Florida, but they're getting harder and harder to find what with all the competition from the hardy and prolific little
brown anoles. This one was in a Coral Gables backyard.
December 30, 1998
Shark Valley, Everglades National Park, Monroe County, Florida
Here's another green anole in the Everglades. Green anoles are such elegant creatures.
January 3, 1999
Bill Sadowski Park, Perrine, Miami-Dade County, Florida
This one is right in the middle of shedding its skin. Green anoles can turn brown, an ability that earned them the confusing misnomer "American chameleon" (they aren't
chameleons; they're anoles!).
Brown anoles cannot, however, turn green.
Anole expert Dr. Ann Paterson told me that a lookalike (and closely related) Cuban anole species, Anolis porcatus, has been found in south Florida and is possibly spreading. So, the pictures I have here of A. carolinensis in south Florida may really be A. porcatus instead.
November 25, 2000
Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory garden, Hilo, Hawaii County, Hawaii
Not only does the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory have yummy chocolate-covered Macadamia nuts, but its garden area provides home for a thriving population of introduced green anoles. What more could you ask for? The one in the first picture was drinking water from the leaf's surface. The one in the second picture seems to be pondering how to snatch the tasty snack on its back.
February 7, 2004
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, Monroe County, Florida
Back in Florida, here's a photogenic juvenile green anole posing on a sea grape leaf.
April 19, 2004
Willow Pond Nature Trail, Fort Clinch State Park, Nassau County, Florida
You just gotta love that green-on-green camouflage.
December 25, 2006
Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, Florida
Subspecies:
Anolis carolinensis seminolus
Southern Green Anole
April 4, 2004
Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Collier County, Florida
Most green anoles have strawberry-red dewlaps, but some populations in southwest Florida have gray or greenish dewlaps. These populations were recently designated to be a separate subspecies,
Anolis carolinensis seminolus. Unfortunately these anoles are just as hard to find amidst the far more plentiful
Brown Anoles as their northern cousins. Here's a pretty individual from Fakahatchee Strand that had a faint row of light blue dots down its side.
April 8, 2004
Oscar Scherer State Park, Sarasota County, Florida
Here's a Southern Anole that showed off its distinguishing dewlap for me.