Anolis carolinensis

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	REPTILIA	SQUAMATA	POLYCHROTIDAE

Scientific Name:

Anolis carolinensis

Species Authority

(Voight, 1832)

Common Name/s:

English

–

Green Anole

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Assessed:	2007
Assessor/s	Frost, D.R. & Hammerson, G.A.
Evaluator/s:	Cox, N., Chanson, J.S. & Stuart, S.N. (Global Reptile Assessment Coordinating Team)
Justification: Listed as Least Concern in view of the large and apparently relatively stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. No major threats are known.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Range encompasses the southeastern United States: southern and eastern Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, central Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina south to the Rio Grande, Gulf Coast, and Florida Keys, with an isolated record from Tamaulipas, Mexico (presumably introduced) (Conant and Collins 1991). It has been introduced and is established in the Hawaiian Islands and Midway Atoll (McKeown 1996, Lever, 2003); Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (McCoid 1993, 1994; Wiles and Guerrero 1996; Vogt et al. 2001; Lever 2003); Palau (Crombie and Pregill 1999, Lever 2003); the Bahamas (Grand Bahama Island) (Lever 2003); Anguilla in the Lesser Antilles (Eaton et al. 2001; Lever 2003); introduced and possibly established on Grand Cayman Islands (Powell 2002); introduced to Japan (southern part of Okinawa-jima Island and the Ogasawara [Bonin] Archipelago) (Lever 2003, Goris and Maeda 2004); and Spain (isolated introductions at Cabo Huertas, Santa Pola, Almuñécar and on Tenerife) (Pleguezuelos et al. 2002, Lever, 2003).
Countries:	Native: United States Introduced: Anguilla; Bahamas; Cayman Islands; Guam; Japan (Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto); Mexico; Northern Mariana Islands; Palau; Spain
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	This species is represented by a very large number of occurrences or subpopulations. The total adult population size is unknown but surely exceeds 100,000 and may exceed 1,000,000. The species is locally common in many areas (Palmer and Braswell 1995, Bartlett and Bartlett 1999, Trauth et al. 2004). The extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size are large and apparently relatively stable, though declines have occurred in Florida.
Population Trend:	Stable

Population:

This species is represented by a very large number of occurrences or subpopulations. The total adult population size is unknown but surely exceeds 100,000 and may exceed 1,000,000. The species is locally common in many areas (Palmer and Braswell 1995, Bartlett and Bartlett 1999, Trauth et al. 2004). The extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size are large and apparently relatively stable, though declines have occurred in Florida.

Population Trend:

Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This mostly arboreal lizard occupies a wide variety of habitats, including upland forests, pine-palmetto scrublands, rocky escarpments, swamps, wooded parks, cleared fields, maritime scrub, and residential lots of coastal towns (Palmer and Braswell 1995, Bartlett and Bartlett 1999, Trauth et al. 2004); commonly it is in edge situations. It climbs on tree trunks, shrubs, vines, and various other plants, and also on fence posts and walls of buildings. It sleeps in vegetation at night. In cold weather, green anoles seek cover but do not go deep underground (Mount 1975). Eggs are buried in moist soil, sphagnum, leaf litter, rotting wood, or under rocks and debris.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

This mostly arboreal lizard occupies a wide variety of habitats, including upland forests, pine-palmetto scrublands, rocky escarpments, swamps, wooded parks, cleared fields, maritime scrub, and residential lots of coastal towns (Palmer and Braswell 1995, Bartlett and Bartlett 1999, Trauth et al. 2004); commonly it is in edge situations. It climbs on tree trunks, shrubs, vines, and various other plants, and also on fence posts and walls of buildings. It sleeps in vegetation at night. In cold weather, green anoles seek cover but do not go deep underground (Mount 1975). Eggs are buried in moist soil, sphagnum, leaf litter, rotting wood, or under rocks and debris.

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	In Florida, appears to be disappearing where the introduced brown anole has become established (Ashton and Ashton 1991). This factor, competition with and predation by other non-native anoles, and human-caused habitat degradation have caused declines in central and southern Florida (Bartlett and Bartlett 1999). An introduced population in Guam is restricted by predation by the introduced brown tree snake (McCoid 1994).

Major Threat(s):

In Florida, appears to be disappearing where the introduced brown anole has become established (Ashton and Ashton 1991). This factor, competition with and predation by other non-native anoles, and human-caused habitat degradation have caused declines in central and southern Florida (Bartlett and Bartlett 1999). An introduced population in Guam is restricted by predation by the introduced brown tree snake (McCoid 1994).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	This lizard occurs in many protected areas (parks, natural areas, etc.).

Conservation Actions:

This lizard occurs in many protected areas (parks, natural areas, etc.).

Citation:	Frost, D.R. & Hammerson, G.A. 2007. Anolis carolinensis. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 November 2008.
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