The knight anole (''Anolis equestris'') is the largest species of anole () in the

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 subfam ...

family. Other common names include Cuban knight anole or Cuban giant anole, highlighting its native country, but it has also been introduced to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In its native Cuba, this large anole is called ''chupacocote''.

Taxonomy

The knight anole is part of a group of overall similar (in both appearance and behavior, all are

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

-giant ecomorphs) anoles from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

known as the ''equestris''

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

, including '' A. baracoae'', '' A. luteogularis'', '' A. noblei'', '' A. pigmaequestris'' and '' A. smallwoodi''. These and a few other anole species from Cuba, Hispaniola and

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 ...

are sometimes placed in their own genus, '' Deiroptyx''.

Geographic range and habitat

Knight anoles are native to Cuba, but have been widely introduced into South

, where they reproduce and spread readily as an invasive species. They cannot withstand cold temperatures; in winter freezes in Florida, they have been known to fall to the ground from tree canopies. In highland parts of its native Cuba, a few individuals may rest adjacent to each other during the relatively cold winters (otherwise the species is solitary and highly

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

). In Cuba they can be seen from near sea level to an altitude of in a wide range of habitats with trees, such as forest,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

, savanna, cultivated areas and gardens. In its introduced Florida range it even occurs in trees along roads in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. Knight anoles are

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose nu ...

, mostly found high in trees on the trunk or branches in the canopy, but will descend to the ground to get from one tree to another, or for

thermoregulation Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

, when occasionally seen on warm asphalt, rocks, or sidewalks.

Appearance

Adult knight anoles are about in total length, including their tail that is longer than the head-and-body, and weigh .Kirsten E. Nicholson and Paul M. Richards (2011). Home-range size and overlap within an introduced population of the Cuban knight anole, ''Anolis equestris'' (Squamata: Iguanidae) Phyllomedusa, 10 (1), 65-73 Males grow larger than females, with adults of the former having a snout–vent length of and the latter . It is mostly bright green with a yellow stripe on the side of the head and another on the shoulder, but it is able to perform some color changes. It has a pinkish-white

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 submandibul ...

. Juveniles have light bands on the body.

Behavior

Knight anoles are diurnal and fiercely territorial. Initially they turn to face almost any perceived threat, if only from a distance. During its challenge display, a lizard will sit high on all fours, gape menacingly, turn green, and perhaps bob its head. The male will extend its dewlap, and both females and males will "puff themselves up" with air.

Diet

When young, its diet consists mainly of insects. As an adult, it mostly eats invertebrates (notably insects and snails), but regularly take fruits and can function as a

seed disperser In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...

. They may also take small vertebrates prey such as small birds and reptiles (including other anoles), but studies indicate that they do this less frequently than several other anole species.

Captivity

In captivity, the anole's aggressiveness seems to lessen to a certain degree; if it is raised from the time of its birth and handled, it is common for it to become tame enough to be held. In communal

terraria ''Terraria'' is an action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows on May 16, 2011, and has since been ported to several other platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting ...

with other species of lizards, it rarely attacks smaller lizards, unless the other reptile intrudes on its territory. It may be hand-fed with caution, since it has a strong bite and many small, sharp teeth.

References

External links

* https://fl.audubon.org/news/species-spotlight-knight-anole * https://www.jstor.org/stable/1443790?seq=1 * https://kiercouture.com/knight-anole/ {{Taxonbar, from=Q536711 Anoles Lizards of the Caribbean Endemic fauna of Cuba Reptiles of Cuba Reptiles described in 1820 Taxa named by Blasius Merrem