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Anolis quaggulus COPE, 1885

IUCN Red List - Anolis quaggulus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAnolidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymAnolis quaggulus COPE 1885: 391
Anolis quaggulus — BOULENGER 1885: 83
Anolis quaggulus — FRANK & RAMUS 1995
Anolis quaggulus — KÖHLER 2003
Anolis quaggulus — KÖHLER et al. 2006
Norops quaggulus — NICHOLSON et al. 20146
Norops quaggulus — MCCRANIE & KÖHLER 2015: 10
Norops quaggulus — NICHOLSON et al. 2018
Norops quaggulus — SUNYER & MARTÍNEZ-FONSECA 2023 
DistributionE Honduras, Nicaragua

Type locality: “San Juan river, Nicaragua”.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 24979; other specimens: SMF, UCR 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. 
CommentSimilar species: A. humilis. Resurrected from the synonymy of N. humilis based mainly on differences in hemipenis morphology. Poe (2016) considers the diagnostic characters suggested by Köhler as insufficient to distinguish between A. quaggulus and humilis. Phillips et al. 2015 show that quaggulus is nested within Anolis/Norops humilis.

Relationships: This species is allied to A. tropidonotus and A. uniformis, coming nearest the latter in its scutellation. The scales of the head are however quite different, and the dorsal scales less numerous and of a different form. The color is unlike anything hitherto observed in the genus.

Species group: Norops auratus Species Group (fide Nicholson et al. 2012)

Distribution: not in Costa Rica fide Sasa et al. 2025. For maps of localities see Phillips et al. 2015: Fig. 2, Köhler et al. 2025: 119 (Fig. 8). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin quagga, an extict subspecies of zebra (from Khoikhoi (an indigenous South African group) word, which imitates the sound the animal made, described as "kwa-ha-ha”) + Latin -us, masculine termination of many adjectives. [“...From the apex of each branch a delicate blackish line descends vertically, stopping on the side below its middle...”]. 
References
  • Beckers, H. 2009. Anolis (Norops) quaggulus (COPE, 1885). Iguana Rundschreiben 22 (2): 18-22
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1885. Twelfth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22: 167-194 [1884] - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1885. A contribution to the herpetology of Mexico. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22: 379-404 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2003. Reptiles of Central America. Herpeton Verlag, 367 pp. [review in Copeia 2004: 429] - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Köhler, G.; Alt, S.; Grünfelder, C.; Dehling, M. & Sunyer, J. 2006. Morphological variation in Central American leaf-litter anoles: Norops humilis, N. quaggulus, and N. uniformis. Salamandra 42 (4): 239-254 - get paper here
  • Köhler, Johannes 2013. Auf der Suche nach Verbreitungsgrenzen im karibischen Tiefland Costa Ricas. Terraria-Elaphe 2013 (3): 68-71 - get paper here
  • Martínez-Fonseca JG, Holmes IA, Sunyer J, Westeen EP, Grundler MR, Cerda PA, Fernández-Mena MA, Loza-Molina JC, Monagan IV Jr., Nondorf D, Pandelis GG, Rabosky ARD 2023. A collection and analysis of amphibians and reptiles from Nicaragua with new country and departmental records. Check List 20(1): 58-125 - get paper here
  • McCranie, James R. 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with additions, comments on taxonomy, some recent taxonomic decisions, and areas of further studies needed. Zootaxa 3931 (3): 352–386 - get paper here
  • McCranie, James R. 2018. The Lizards, Crocodiles, and Turtles of Honduras. Systematics, Distribution, and Conservation. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Special Publication Series (2): 1- 666 - get paper here
  • McCranie, James R. and Gunther Köhler 2015. The Anoles (Reptilia: Squamata: Dactyloidae: Anolis: Norops) of Honduras. Systematics, Distribution, and Conservation. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard (Special Publication Series, No. 1): 1-280 [review in Q. J. Biol. 91: 227] - get paper here
  • Nicholson KE, C. Guyer, and JG Phillips 2017. Biogeographic Origin of Mainland Norops (Squamata: Dactyloidae). Assumptions Inhibiting Progress in Comparative Biology (eds. Crother and Parenti), pp. 169–184
  • NICHOLSON, KIRSTEN E.; BRIAN I. CROTHER, CRAIG GUYER & JAY M. SAVAGE 2012. It is time for a new classification of anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae). Zootaxa 3477: 1–108 - get paper here
  • NICHOLSON, KIRSTEN E.; BRIAN I. CROTHER, CRAIG GUYER & JAY M. SAVAGE 2018. Translating a clade based classification into one that is valid under the international code of zoological nomenclature: the case of the lizards of the family Dactyloidae (Order Squamata). Zootaxa 4461 (4): 573–586 - get paper here
  • Phillips, JG, J. Deitloff, C. Guyer, S. Huetteman, and KE Nicholson 2015. Biogeography and evolution of a widespread Central American lizard species complex: Norops humilis, (Squamata: Dactyloidae). BMC Evolutionary Biology 15: 143 - get paper here
  • Poe, S. 2013. 1986 Redux: New genera of anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae) are unwarranted. Zootaxa 3626 (2): 295–299 - get paper here
  • Poe, S. 2016. Book review: The Anoles of Honduras: Systematics, Dis­ tribution, and Conservation. The Quarterly Review of Biology 91: 227 - get paper here
  • Poe, Steven 2025. A Guide to the Anolis Lizards (Anoles) of Mainland Central and South America. Princeton University Press, 432 pp. - get paper here
  • Solís, J. M., L. D. Wilson, and J. H. Townsend. 2014. An updated list of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with comments on their nomenclature. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 123–144 - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier 2014. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 186–202. - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier & José́ Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca 2023. An updated country checklist to the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. REVISTA NICARAGÜENSE DE BIODIVERSIDAD (100): 1-25 - get paper here
  • WERNING, Heiko 2012. Im Bad mit Anolis – ein Besuch bei Uwe Bartelt. Terraria-Elaphe 2012 (6): 88-92 - get paper here
  • Yuan, M. L., M. H. Wake, and I. J. Wang. 2019. Phenotypic integration between claw and toepad traits promotes microhabitat specialization in the Anolis adaptive radiation. Evolution 73: 231–244 - get paper here
 
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