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Anolis aquaticus TAYLOR, 1956

IUCN Red List - Anolis aquaticus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAnolidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Water Anole 
SynonymAnolis aquaticus TAYLOR 1956: 141
Anolis aquaticus — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970: 48
Norops aquaticus — GUYER & SAVAGE 1986
Norops aquaticus — KÖHLER 2000: 59
Norops aquaticus — NICHOLSON 2002
Anolis aquaticus — KÖHLER et al. 2007
Norops aquaticus — NICHOLSON et al. 2012
Norops aquaticus — NICHOLSON et al. 2018 
DistributionCosta Rica, Panama

Type locality: Palmar, Provincia Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: KU (= KUMNH) 34276 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1308 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSpecies group: Norops auratus Species Group (fide Nicholson et al. 2012)

Habitat: semi-aquatic (Baeckens et al. 2021) 
EtymologyNamed after Latin aquaticus, aquatic, of/belonging to the water. [“...From Latin aquaticus, living in or near water...”]. 
References
  • Arias, Erick; Federico Bolaños 2014. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of San Isidro de Dota, Reserva Forestal Los Santos, Costa Rica. Check List 10 (4): 870-877 - get paper here
  • Baeckens, S.; M. Temmerman, S. Gorb, C. Neto, M. Whiting & R. Van Damme 2021. Convergent evolution of skin surface microarchitecture and increased skin hydrophobicity in semi-aquatic anole lizards. Journal of Experimental Biology 224(19): jeb242939 ( - get paper here
  • Boccia, Christopher K, Lindsey Swierk, Fernando P Ayala-Varela, James Boccia, Isabela L Borges, Camilo Andres Estupiñán, Alexandra M Martin, et al. 2021. Repeated Evolution of Underwater Rebreathing in Diving Anolis Lizards. Current Biology 31 (13): 2947-2954.e4 - get paper here
  • CHAVES, G., RYAN, M. J., BOLAÑOS, F., MÁRQUEZ, C., KÖHLER, G., & POE, S. 2023. Two new species of semiaquatic Anolis (Squamata: Dactyloidae) from Costa Rica. Zootaxa 5319 (2): 249-262 - get paper here
  • Fondren A, Swierk L, Putman BJ. 2019. Clothing color mediates lizard responses to humans in a tropical forest. Biotropica 00:1–10 - get paper here
  • Frank, Hannah K. and Jonathan R. Flanders. 2016. Anolis aquaticus (Norops aquaticus) (Water Anole) Sleep Site Fidelity. Herpetological Review 47 (1): 131-132 - get paper here
  • Guyer, C., & J. M. SAVAGE 1986. Cladistic relationships among anoles (Sauria: Iguanidae). Systematic Zoology 35: 509-531 [1987] - get paper here
  • Herrmann, Nicholas C. 2017. Substrate Availability and Selectivity Contribute To Microhabitat Specialization In Two Central American Semiaquatic Anoles. Breviora 555 (1): 1-13 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2000. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd 1: Krokodile, Schildkröten, Echsen. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 158 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • KÖHLER, GUNTHER 2014. Characters of external morphology used in Anolis taxonomy—Definition of terms, advice on usage, and illustrated examples. Zootaxa 3774 (2): 201–257 - get paper here
  • Köhler, Gunther; Marcos Ponce, Javier Sunyer, and Abel Batista 2007. FOUR NEW SPECIES OF ANOLES (GENUS ANOLIS) FROM THE SERRANÍA DE TABASARÁ, WEST-CENTRAL PANAMA (SQUAMATA: POLYCHROTIDAE). Herpetologica 63 (3): 375-391 - get paper here
  • LOPERA, DIANA; KIMBERLY CHEN GUO, BREANNA J. PUTMAN & LINDSEY SWIERK. 2022. Keeping it cool to take the heat: tropical lizards have greater thermal tolerance in less disturbed habitats. Oecologia 199, 819–829 - get paper here
  • Losos, J. B. 2009. Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles. Berkeley: University of California Press, 528 pp. - get paper here
  • Martin, A.M., Boccia, C.K. & Swierk, L. 2024. Diving behavior in semi-aquatic Anolis lizards results in heat loss with sex-specific cooling tolerance. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 78, 33 (2024) - get paper here
  • Mudde, P, & VAN DIJK, M. 1985. Herpetologische waarnemingen in Costa Rica. (12). Anolissen (Anolinae). Lacerta 43: 122-29. - 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, K.E. 2002. Phylogenetic analysis and a test of the current infrageneric classification of Norops (beta Anolis). Herpetological Monographs 16: 93-120 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Peters, James A. & Donoso-Barros, Roberto 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: Part II. Lizards and Amphisbaenians. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 297: 293 pp. - get paper here
  • Poe, S. 2004. Phylogeny of anoles. Herpetological Monographs 18: 37-89 - 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, Steven 2025. A Guide to the Anolis Lizards (Anoles) of Mainland Central and South America. Princeton University Press, 432 pp. - get paper here
  • Santos-Barrera, Georgina; Jesus Pacheco, Fernando Mendoza-Quijano, Federico Bolaños,<br />Gerardo Cháves , Gretchen C. Daily, Paul R. Ehrlich & Gerardo Ceballos 2008. Diversity, natural history and conservation of amphibians and reptiles from the San Vito Region, southwestern Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (2): 755-778 - get paper here
  • Sasa, M., Arias, E., & Chaves, G. 2025. Annotated list of amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica: The role of the Museum of Zoology in cataloging the country’s herpetological diversity. Revista de Biología Tropical, 73(S2): e64536-e64536 - get paper here
  • Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, 934 pp. [review in Copeia 2003 (1): 205]
  • Swierk, L; 2019. Anolis aquaticus (=Norops aquaticus) (Water Anole) Underwater breathing. Herpetological Review 50 (1): 134-135 - get paper here
  • Swierk, L; Carriere, A; Delfin, M; Fondren, A; Lopera, D & Putnam, B J; 2019. Anolis aquaticus (= Norops aquaticus) (Water Anole) Egg size and oviposition sites. Herpetological Review 50 (2): 360-362 - get paper here
  • Swierk, Lindsey 2019. Ongoing research on the ecology and behavior of Anolis aquaticus. Anolis Newsletter VII: 275 - get paper here
  • Taylor, E. H. 1956. A review of the lizards of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (part 1): 3-322 - get paper here
  • WUTHRICH, KELLY LIN & LINDSEY SWIERK. 2021. ANOLIS AQUATICUS (Water Anole). DEWLAP COLORATION. Herpetological Review 52 (2): 401–402. - get paper here
 
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