''Anolis marmoratus'', commonly known as the leopard anole, Guadeloupe anole, or Guadeloupean anole, is a species of

anole 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 ...

that 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 ...

to the islands of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

, in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

. Five former

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 ...

have been elevated to species status: '' A. ferreus'', '' A. terraealtae'', '' A.kahouannensis'', '' A.chrysops'', and '' A.desiradei''. Of the currently accepted leopard anole subspecies, five live on the island of

Basse-Terre Basse-Terre (, ; ; ) is a communes of the Guadeloupe department, commune in the France, French overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the ''prefectures in France, pref ...

and two on the island of

Grande-Terre Grande Terre or Grande-Terre (, French for "large land") is a generic term used in French to designate the main island of any given archipelago. As a specific toponym, it may refer to the following: * Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, the eastern half of ...

. The validity of these subspecies has been questioned as there is extensive

intergradation In zoology, intergradation is the way in which two distinct subspecies are connected via areas where populations are found that have the characteristics of both. There are two types of intergradation: primary and secondary intergradation. Primary ...

between them and the species shows extreme variability in its appearance; both between regions and individually in the same region. This has possibly been enhanced by habitats changes by humans (allowing populations to easier come into contact with each other) and

translocations In genetics, chromosome translocation is a phenomenon that results in unusual rearrangement of chromosomes. This includes "balanced" and "unbalanced" translocation, with three main types: "reciprocal", "nonreciprocal" and "Robertsonian" transloc ...

of individuals. Most leopard anoles do not clearly match the typically recognized subspecies.Legreneur, P. (7 April 2012)
The Anoles Of Guadeloupe
Anole Annals. Retrieved 27 March 2018.Legreneur, P. (11 September 2013)
United Colors Of Guadeloupe Anoles
Anole Annals. Retrieved 16 March 2018. Genetic studies confirm that strong assortative mating between the different populations does not exist, despite their distinct differences in appearance and them having separated about 650,000 years ago ( confidence interval starting at 351,000 years).

List of current subspecies

The following is a table showing the description and geographical distribution of all the currently accepted subspecies of ''Anolis marmoratus''.

References

External links

* * * * Dactyloidae Lizards of the Caribbean Endemic fauna of Guadeloupe Reptiles of Guadeloupe Reptiles described in 1837 Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron {{Dactyloidae-stub