Bark

Immediately after that, Kingsnake changed their format, or something, and when
I followed my bookmark I was taken to some past messages in the forum.
I thought my post had been deleted.
So I did more searching on Bark Anole, and found some more information.
Eventually my searching got me back to this forum and I found that my post was
still here, with some responses. By then more than a week had passed, so I decided
to try to get some more photos before I posted anything else.

So, a belated "thank you" to the people who replied to my post.

I am aware that there are several species of anoles which are so similar in
appearance that it is necessary to count scales or to perform
DNA analysis in order to make a positive ID.
However the info that I found, and other photos
I have looked at, make me reasonibly convinced that the photo was a Bark
Anole.

A website by University of Florida lists 8 species of anoles which breed in Florida.

This was published in 1996 so it could be out-of-date.

Taken from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW114

• Knight Anole             
  Anolis equestris
• Green Anole              
  Anolis carolinensis



• Hispaniolan Green Anole    
  Anolis chlorocyanus



• Jamaican Anole            
  Anolis garmani
• Brown Anole            
  Anolis sagrei



• Bark Anole                
  Anolis distichus



• Large-headed Anole      
  Anolis cybotes



• Crested Anole             
  Anolis cristatellus

The Bartlett & Bartlett book: Field Guide to Florida's Reptiles and
Amphibians lists some ways to distinguish a Bark Anole
from a Brown Anole.

The Bark Anole is more arboreal. It stays on the trunk or large limbs of a tree
and flees upward when approached.

The Bark Anole is only 2/3 the size of the Brown Anole.

The Bark Anole has a relatively shorter tail. Brown Anoles have tails which are
nearly 2x SVL. Bark Anoloes tails are slightly more than 1x SVL.

Bark Anoles do not dart from place to place as rapidly as Brown Anoles. Instead
they waddle rapidly, like a gecko.

At Matheson, I think I can identify four species of anole. Namely: sagrei,
distichus, carolinensis, and equestris. In that order of frequency.

At Castello, most anoles were sagrei, but I saw two distichus.

At both Sewell and Curtis, distichus were the most common anoles (at least on
the trees, where I was looking.) There were also sagrei and carolinesis.

This second photo is also from Matheson Hammock Park on 22 April 2003 in the early
afternoon.

This is the best photo I could get of the dewlap. The dewlaps that I saw were
pale green; some had a small amount of orange in the center.

I am convinced that these three photos are all Bark Anoles Anolis distichus.