Bermuda Mystery Anole
Bermuda has only one native lizard, a skink, but is blessed with three introduced anoles: A. grahami, A. leachii, and A. extremus. Or is that now four? Joe Macedonia is on the ground in Bermuda as I write, and his team of intrepid lizard watchers have snapped this beauty. To me, it looks like a male A. sagrei. Anybody got another idea? Any chance it’s A. grahami, found everywhere in Bermuda?
Anolis grahami on Bermuda. Photo by J. Losos.
If it is A. sagrei, and if this colonizer extraordinaire is firmly established, then how the population expands will be interesting to watch. As documented in detail, A. grahami spread rapidly throughout the island after its introduction in 1905, but the next two invaders expanded much more slowly, the last one to arrive, A. extremus, still having a limited distribution on one end of the island. All of these species are arboreal, however, so it is very possible that the presence of A. grahami inhibited the other two. Anolis sagrei, on the other hand, is much more terrestrial. My prediction is that if a population is established, it will quickly spread throughout the Bermudian archipelago. In turn, for someone moving quickly, this might make a great opportunity to study the ecological and evolutionary consequences of invasion. Will A. grahami populations decline? Will the species shift its habitat use, perhaps with selection to alter its morphology?
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