Anolis sabanus, the Saba anole or Saban anole, is a species of

anole 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 ...

lizard that 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 elsew ...

to the island of

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river), L ...

, a Dutch municipality in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...

. Males measure from (snout-to-vent), and females measure from .Staats, C. M. and J. J. Schall, 1996
Malarial parasites (Plasmodium) of Anolis lizards: Biogeography in the Lesser Antilles
Biotropica 28:388-393. Males and females both have pale grey to tan colored bodies and pale yellow with green or orange tint

dewlap A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin or similar flesh that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. More loosely, it can be various similar structures in the neck area, such as those caused by a double chin or the submandibula ...

s, but the males can be differentiated by additional dark patches covering their bodies. Females additionally have a mid-dorsal stripe. The species eats mostly small insects.Saban Anole

Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) is a regional partnership of conservation organisations, including the national parks on the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten) and is inte ...

. Retrieved 10 November 2018. While the species is rare by being endemic (only found on the island of Saba), it is very common on the island. Biologists believe the origin of the species may come from

Saint Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorpo ...

, and that it is older than the present-day anoles found on

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, so ...

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (598–655) * Saint Mart ...

and

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

. Within the ''bimaculatus'' series, it belongs to the Guadeloupean-Dominican

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

of anoles, which includes '' A. marmoratus'' on the Guadeloupe Archipelago, '' A. lividus'' on

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

, '' A. nubilus'' on

Redonda Redonda is an uninhabited Caribbean island that is a part of Antigua and Barbuda, in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. The island is about long, wide, and is high at its highest point. This small island lies between the islands of Nevis and ...

, and '' A. oculatus'' on

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

.See and generally for descriptions and charts of these relationships, and the methodology used. ''A. nubilus'' was omitted by Schneider for lack of data; see discussion in .

References

* * *

External links

*
Anolis sabanus
at the

Encyclopedia of Life The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of non ...

Anolis sabanus
at the Reptile Database Anoles Lizards of the Caribbean Endemic fauna of Saba Reptiles described in 1887 Taxa named by Samuel Garman {{lizard-stub

See also

References

External links