Brown Anole

The brown anole, Anolis sagrei, also called the Cuban brown anole, is a lizard of the family Dactyloidae native to Cuba, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, the Yucatan Peninsula, Belize and nearby Caribbean coasts, typically 5.0 to 8.5 inches long, with males up to 9 inches. It is light brown with darker brown to black markings on the back, tan to light lines along the sides, a dewlap ranging from pale yellow to orange to deep red, and a ridge running along the tail up to behind the head that distinguishes it from the green anole. Now highly invasive across Florida and other parts of the southern and southwestern United States, Hawaii, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan and other Caribbean islands, it reaches exceptionally high population densities and both outcompetes and preys on native lizards such as the green anole.