Banded Anole

Description

Anolis stratulus is a moderately-sized species of anole (US: ) (family Dactyloidae) found in Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. It is a gray-colored lizard spotted with brown markings. It is arboreal, usually found positioned on tree bark on branches in the canopies of forest trees, where in some areas of Puerto Rico it can be incredibly abundant, with tens of thousands of the lizards being present per hectare. It is locally known as the lagartijo manchando in Puerto Rico. Names which have been coined for it in English are spotted anole, Puerto Rican spotted anole (in Puerto Rico), banded anole (in Puerto Rico), saddled anole, salmon lizard, barred anole, St. Thomas anole or the somewhat of a misnomer chameleon, because it can change color. It is known as the "spotted anole" because of the black markings on its back; the Spanish word manchado means as much. There are no salmon in Puerto Rico; the name "salmon lizard" may have been invented for tourists in 2007 by Alan Mowbray, 'interpretive media writer' for the website of El Yunque National Forest, referring to the trout-like colour pattern of its flanks or the perhaps his interpretation of the color of the skin. The names "saddled anole" and "barred anole" are likely taken from the 1862 description by Edward Drinker Cope, although it is not really true, Cope believed that the lizards were characteristically saddled with brown transverse bars on their back.

Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Anolis stratulus”.