''Anolis cooki'', also known commonly as Cook's anole, Cook's pallid anole, and the Guanica pallid anole, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia al ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Dactyloidae Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles () and native to warmer parts of the Americas, ranging from southeastern United States to Paraguay. Instead of treating it as a family, some authorities prefer to treat it as a subfami ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''cooki'', is in honor of

Melville Thurston Cook Melville may refer to: Places Antarctica * Cape Melville (South Shetland Islands) * Melville Peak, King George Island *Melville Glacier, Graham Land *Melville Highlands, Laurie Island *Melville Point, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Cape Melville, ...

(1869–1952), who was an American botanist and entomologist. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Anolis cooki'', p. 58).

Geographic range

''A. cooki'' is found in southwestern

, including the island of

Caja de Muertos Caja de Muertos (; also in English: ''Coffin Island'') is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Ponce. The island and its surrounding waters are protected by the Caja de Muertos Nature Reserve, b ...

Habitat

The preferred natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''A. cooki'' is

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

, at altitudes from sea level to .

Description

Moderate-sized for the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Anolis'', males of ''A. cooki'' may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of . Females are smaller, attaining SVL.

Reproduction

''A. cooki'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...

Taxonomy

''A. cooki'' was originally described as a subspecies of '' Anolis cristatellus'' but raised to species rank in 1966. In 2012

Nicholson Nicholson may refer to: People *Nicholson (name), a surname, and a list of people with the name Places Australia * Nicholson, Victoria * Nicholson, Queensland * Nicholson County, New South Wales * Nicholson River (disambiguation) * Nicholson Road ...

et al. "split" the genus ''Anolis'' and placed ''A. cooki'' in the genus ''Ctenonotus'', a move which has not been widely accepted.

References

(1931). "A New Species and Two New Sub-species of the Genus ''Anolis'' ". ''Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Porto'' ic''Rico'' 15: 219–222. (''Anolis cristatellus cooki'', new subspecies, p. 221). * Schwartz A, Henderson RW (1991). ''Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies: Descriptions, Distributions, and Natural History''. Gainesville: University of Florida Press. 720 pp. . (''Anolis cooki'', p. 242). *Schwartz A, Thomas R (1975). ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896. Housing some 22 million ...

Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (''Anolis cooki'', pp. 74–75). *Thomas R (1966). "Additional notes on the amphisbaenids of greater Puerto Rico". ''Breviora'' (249): 1–23. (''Anolis cooki'', elevated to species, p. 3). Anoles Reptiles of Puerto Rico Endemic fauna of Puerto Rico Reptiles described in 1931 Taxa named by Chapman Grant {{lizard-stub