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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Dactyloidae Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles (singular anole ) 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 ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''cooki'', is in honor of Melville Thurston Cook (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: ''Deadman's Chest'' or ''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 Muer ...

Habitat

The preferred natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

of ''A. cooki'' is

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, at altitudes from sea level to .

Description

Moderate-sized for the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''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 reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

Taxonomy

''A. cooki'' was originally described as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of ''

Anolis cristatellus ''Anolis cristatellus'' is a small species of Anolis, anole, belonging to the Dactyloidae Family (biology), family of reptiles. The species is native to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. and British Virgin Islands, with Introduced sp ...

'' 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 Ro ...

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 (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by List of people from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, Pit ...

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). Dactyloidae Reptiles of Puerto Rico Endemic fauna of Puerto Rico Reptiles described in 1931 Taxa named by Chapman Grant {{Dactyloidae-stub