Polychrotidae

Order Squamata
Suborder Sauria (Lizards)

Family Polychrotidae* or Subfamily Polychrinae** (Anoles)

* sensu Frost & Etheridge (1989), ** sensu Schulte et al. (1998).

The genera listed below have been called Anolinae, Polychrotidae, or Polychrinae. Among them, Anolis and Norops are the most diverse reptile genera with about 370 species (but see note below about the relationship of Norops and Anolis). Note that Frost et al. (2001) recently suggested to split off the family Leiosauridae with two subfamilies, Leiosaurinae and Enyaliinae (see genera below).

Appearance: Relatively small, slender lizards. Almost all anoles have subdigital lamellae which make them nimble climbers. Another characteristic feature of this genus is the often colorful dewlap that is used for intraspecific communication.

Distribution: Central and South America, Caribbean, introduced to the United States.

Habitat: The species of Polychrus are also arboreal and they even have a prehensile tail. Some polychrotids like Pristidactylus and Phenacosaurus are terrestrial lizards in South America. Enyalius is arboreal while Leiosaurus, Diplolaemus and Pristidactylus are primitevely terrestrial (with Chilean Pristidactylus ending towards arboreality)

Size: < cm snout-vent length

Food: Mostly insects and other small invertebrates. In a few cases frugivory has been observed in Anolis (such as A. cristatellus wileyae [Herp. Rev. 28: 150]).

Behaviour: see Appearance.

Reproduction: egg-laying (oviparous)

Taxonomic notes: Previously most authors considered the Polychrotidae as a subfamily of the Iguanidae. By far the largest genera within the Polychrotidae are Anolis and Norops with about 370 species. Originally separated by the presence of caudal transverse processes (in Norops), DNA analysis has confirmed monophyly of both genera. However, recent studies shows that Norps is nested within Anolis and thus should be treated as a synonym (Nicholson et al. 2005). Poe (2004) presented a comprehensive analysis of 174 species but stated that many clades are not well supported due to the lack of data. In fact, some authors claim that recognition of Norops renders the rest of Anolis paraphyletic, and the other Guyer and
Savage genera have been shown to be non-monophyletic (Cannatella and de Queiroz, 1989; Jackman et al., 1999; Poe, 2004). Also see notes on genera below.

List of Genera:

Polychrotidae

Leiosauridae

Leiosaurinae

Enyaliinae

Notes: Aptycholaemus is considered synonym of Anisolepis by Etheridge & Williams.
Cupriguanus is a junior synonym of Pristidactylus. Garbesaura is a synonym of Enyalius. Polychroides is a junior synonym of Polychrus (Gorman et al. 1968). Audantia, Deiroptyx, and Xiphocercus, Chamaeleolis, Chamaelinorops are junior synonyms of Anolis (s.l.). Aperopristis is a synonym of Leiosaurus. Guyer & Savage (1986, 1992) made an attempt to subdivide Anolis into several genera like Anolis, Norops, Dactyloa, and Ctenonotus but this classification has not been universally accepted. Phenacosaurus has been synonymized with Anolis by Poe (1998).

Click on genus to get an up-to-date list of species. Use the Search form for more sophisticated searches.

Phylogenetic relationships simplified after Frost et al. (2001):

Selected References:

CANNATELLA, D. C., AND K. DE QUEIROZ. 1989
Phylogenetic systematics of the anoles: is a new taxonomy warranted?
Systematic Zoology 38:57–69

Etheridge, R. (1969)
A review of the Iguanid lizard genus Enyalius.
Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology 18 (8): 233-260

Frost,D.E. & Etheridge,R.E. (1989)
A Phylogenetic Analysis and Taxonomy of Iguanian Lizards (Reptilia: Squamata)
Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. Misc. Publ. 81

Frost, D.R.; Etheridge, R.; Janies, D. & Titus, T.A. (2001)
Total evidence, sequence alignment, evolution of Polychrotid lizards, and a reclassification of the Igunaia (Squamata: Iguania).
American Museum Novitates 3343: 38 pp.

Gorman,G.C., Huey,R.B. & Williams,E.E. (1969)
Cytotaxonomic studies on some unusual iguanid lizards assigned to the genera Chamaeleolis, Polychrus, Polychroides and Phenacosaurus, with behavioral notes.
Breviora 316: 1-17

Guyer, C., & J. M. SAVAGE 1986
Cladistic relationships among anoles (Sauria: Iguanidae).
Syst. Zool. 35: 509-531

Savage, Jay M. & Guyer, Craig 1989
Infrageneric classification and species composition of the anole genera, Anolis, Ctenonotus, Dactyloa, Norops and Semiurus (Sauria: Iguanidae).
Amphibia-Reptilia 10: 105-116

Guyer, C.;Savage, J. M. 1992
Anole systematics revisited.
Systematic Biology 41 (1): 89-110

Jackman, T.R.; Larson, A.; De Queiroz, K. & Losos, J.B. 1999
Phylogenetic relationships and tempo of early diversification in Anolis lizards.
Systematic Biology 48: 254-285

Nicholson, K.E. (2002)
Phylogenetic analysis and a test of the current infrageneric classification of Norops (beta Anolis).
Herpetological Monographs (16): 93-120

Nicholson, K. E., R. E. Glor, J. J. Kolbe, A. Larson, S. B. Hedges, and J. B. Losos (2005)
Mainland colonization by island lizards.
Journal of Biogeography 32: 929–938

Poe, Steven (1998)
Skull characters and the cladistic relationships of the Hispaniolan dwarf twig Anolis.
Herpetological Monographs 12: 192-236

Poe, S. (2004)
Phylogeny of anoles.
Herpetological Monographs (18): 37-89

Schulte,J.A. et al. (1998)
Molecular tests of phylogenetic taxonomies: A general procedure and example using four subfamilies of the lizard family Iguanidae.
Mol. Phylogen. Evol.

Williams, Ernest E. (1976)
West Indian anoles: A taxonomic and evolutionary summary 1. Introduction and species list.
Breviora (440): 1-21

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Created: 22 Sep 1996 / Last changed or updated: 10 Jan 2008