Meshaka, Walter E., Jr.

English

The University of Kansas: Journals@KU

The Knight Anole, Anolis equestris, is a most fascinating lizard.Endemic to Cuba, where it is widely distributed, the specieshas been in Florida for half a century. There, it has become anubiquitous member of southern Florida’s exotic herpetofaunalcommunity. Ecologically, this species stands out as a very un-anole-like anole. It is very large, the largest species in the genus,reaching nearly 60 cm in total length. It is omnivorous. It sits andwaits for prey or actively forages for invertebrates, small verte-brates, and the tender foliage and fruits of various plants. Thetexture of its skin is far more similar to a chameleon-like suedethan the typical dry and sandy feel of most other anoles.Likewise, its eyes, casqued head, and careful movements are morelike those of the true chameleons (Chameleo spp.) or its ancientCuban relatives (anoles formerly placed in the genus Chameleolis)than those of the more evolutionarily derived anoles with whichit shares its home in southern Florida. These lizards’ odd outlines,exacerbated by the prominent head casques, the broken and vari-able color patterns dominated by greens of various hues, andtheir often deliberate style of movement causes them to be easilyoverlooked by friends and foes alike.S P E C I E S  P R O F I L ESpecies Profile: The Knight Anole, Anolis equestris, in Southern FloridaWalter E. Meshaka, Jr.State Museum of Pennsylvania, Section of Zoology and Botany, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0024A rather odd profile, exacerbated by a prominent head casque, plus the broken and variable color patterns dominated by greens of var-ious hues render these lizards very cryptic despite their large size. Photograph by Joe Burgess.162 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 SPECIES PROFILEIGUANA  •  VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2004 163SPECIES PROFILEBecause of its role as a large, successful predator and the factthat it utilizes arboreal habitats that overlap with those used bythe anoles it often eats, Knight Anoles are likely to be a majorforce in shaping the anoline assemblage of southern Florida,much of which consists of introduced species, mostly fromCaribbean islands. Orlando Garrido, an eminent Cuban her-petologist, once predicted, for example, that Cuban GreenAnoles (Anolis porcatus) would never successfully colonize south-ern Florida, mainly because Knight Anoles, which routinely eattheir smaller relatives, were so abundant. That the Cuban GreenAnoles have apparently succeeded attests more to the abundanceof cover in the dense groves of ornamental plants that character-ize most urban and suburban communities in southern Floridathan to any deficiency of Knight Anoles as predators.From the standpoint of a colonizing species, much remainsto be studied, but Knight Anoles appear to follow closely the pat-tern seen in Florida’s Green Iguanas and they many other speciesof introduced amphibians and reptiles: they are abundant humancommensals with enviable reproductive potential and which areeminently capable of taking full advantage of the artificially lushhabitats of southern and especially coastal Florida.ReferencesMeshaka, Jr., W.E. 1999. Research and thoughts on the Knight Anole,Anolis equestris, in southern Florida. The Anolis Newsletter(4):86–88.Meshaka, Jr., W.E., B.P. Butterfield, and J.B. Hauge. 2004. ExoticAmphibians and Reptiles of Florida. Krieger Publ. Co., Malabar, FL.Meshaka, Jr., W.E. and K.G. Rice. 2004. The Knight Anole (Anolisequestris): Ecology of a successful colonizing species in extremesouthern mainland Florida. In: W.E. Meshaka, Jr. and K.J. Babbitt(eds.), Status and Conservation of Florida Amphibians and Reptiles.Krieger Publ, Co., Malabar, FL.Schwartz, A. and R.W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of theWest Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History. Univ.Florida Press, Gainesville.These lizards are striking and cryptic at the same time. Photographby Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.These large anoles are most frequently seen when they bask on trunks of trees. Photograph by Joe Burgess.

Species Profile: The Knight Anole, Anolis equestris, in Southern Florida

Biodiversity Informatics

https://journals.ku.edu/iguana/article/download/17134/15410

Species Profile: The Knight Anole, Anolis equestris, in Southern Florida

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