Anolis smaragdinus BARBOUR & SHREVE, 1935
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Anolis smaragdinus
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| Higher Taxa | Anolidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Anolis smaragdinus smaragdinus BARBOUR & SHREVE 1935 Anolis smaragdinus lerneri OLIVER 1948 |
| Common Names | E: Bahamian Green Anole |
| Synonym | Anolis smaragdinus BARBOUR & SHREVE 1935: 355 Anolis smaragdinus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 344 Anolis smaragdinus — NICHOLSON et al. 2005 Anolis smaragdinus — NICHOLSON et al. 2012 Anolis smaragdinus — NICHOLSON et al. 2018 Anolis smaragdinus lerneri OLIVER 1948 Anolis carolinensis lerneri OLIVER 1948 Anolis smaragdinus lerneri — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991 Anolis smaragdinus lerneri — NICHOLSON et al. 2012 Anolis smaragdinus lerneri — NICHOLSON et al. 2018 |
| Distribution | Bahamas, Exuma, Little San Salvador, Cat Island smaragdinus: Great Bahama Bank (except islands with other subspecies), Little San Salvador I., Cat I. Type locality: Mortimer's, South Point, Long Island, Bahama Islands. lerneri: Great Bahama Bank: Bimini Is., Berry Is., Andros I.; Type locality: “Southern end of North Bimini Island, Bimini, Bahamas, British West Indies.” |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MCZ 37983. Holotype: AMNH 68635 (not 68535) [lerneri] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Allied to the Cuban Anolis porcatus from which the new species differs in its much smaller average size and in coloration in life. It lacks the blue head of the adult male porcatus. Preserved immature specimens of the two species are sometimes difficult to separate. Allied also to Anolis carolinensis but differing in many ways, among others in that the frontal and canthal ridges are usually more pronounced while the head scales in general are larger and less strongly keeled, also smaragdinus usually has only three loreal rows of scales while carolinensis usually has four or more. Carolinensis is also, of course, in life usually uniform green when not brown with the dorsal stripe, hence very like the Bahamian species in life. The new form is also related to Anolis brunneus from which species the new one differs in having a much broader, shorter snout (two young rather similar in this character), in often having larger dorsal scales, and in having a very different coloration [Barbour & Shreve 1935: 355]. DIAGNOSIS. Anolis smaragdinus can be distinguished from its six native Bahamian congeners by having bluntly keeled ventrals and a tail round in cross-section (ventrals are distinctly keeled and the tail is laterally compressed in A. sagrei), a lack of two paramedian rows of paired scales on the snout (present in A. distichus), lack of an elongate black spot above the forelimb insertions (present in A. brunneus, with which A. smaragdinus has frequently been confused; see Remarks), an elongate snout and relatively slender habitus (snout not elongate and “chunky” habitus in A. scriptus), dorsum green (brown in metachrosis) and dewlap pink or red (dorsum never green, tan or brown, dewlap peach to pale tan in A. angusticeps), and dorsum without scattered white spots (present in A. fairchildi) (Schwartz and Henderson 1985). Anolis smaragdinus differs from A. equestris, which is not native but has been introduced in the Bahamas (Buckner et al. 2012), by smaller size (A. equestris can reach SVLs of 188 mm in males and 170 mm in females [Schwartz and Garrido 1972]), bluntly keeled ventrals (smooth in E. equestris), and lack of a prominent cranial bony casque (present in A. equestris). Many populations (and individuals) of A. smaragdinus can be distinguished from A. carolinensis, with which it frequently has been confused (see Remarks), by often having a greenish venter and usually lacking a dark postocular spot (never greenish and usually with a postocular spot in A. carolinensis), but this will not apply in all instances. Oliver (1948), in his description of “A. carolinensis lerneri,” indicated that A. carolinensis can be distinguished by having more prominently keeled dorsal scales, a shorter, broader snout, and a laterally compressed tail (oval in cross section) compared to a round tail in what is now recognized as A. s. lerneri, but he failed to provide sufficient data to distinguish A. s. smaragdinus from A. carolinensis, to both of which he attributed a shorter, broader snout than in A. s. lerneri (although that of A. carolinensis is generally less “pointy” than that of either subspecies of A. smaragdinus). Consequently, A. smaragdinus and A. carolinensis often cannot be distinguished by morphological, meristic, or color differences, so a definitive diagnosis is dependent on electrophoretic or genetic distinctions (e.g., Buth et al. 1980; Glor et al. 2005; from Les & Powell 2014). |
| Comment | For illustrations see Schwartz and Henderson, 1985, Les & Powell 2014. Species group: Anolis carolinensis species group (fide NICHOLSON et al. 2012). |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “smaragdinus” for “emerald,” an obvious allusion to the bright green ground color of this species. The name lerneri is a patronym honoring Michael Lerner, founder of the Lerner Marine Laboratory on Bimini, Bahamas (Oliver 1948, Les & Powell 2014). |
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