More Information

Additional Information

Anolis equestrisKnight anole

By Jennifer Niederlander

Ge­o­graphic Range

Knight anoles are na­tive to Cuba. They have been in­tro­duced into south­east­ern Florida, and there are now breed­ing pop­u­la­tions in Broward, Mi­ami-Dade, and Palm Beach coun­ties (Behler 1979, B. Ham­mond pers. comm.).

Habi­tat

Knight Anoles are ar­bo­real and com­monly found under shady canopies of large trees.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Knight anoles grow to a length of 13 - 19 3/8 inches. They are the largest of the Ano­lis species. The snout is long and wedge-shaped. The tail is slightly com­pressed with a ser­rated upper edge. Each toe is ex­panded in the form of an ad­he­sive pad. The ad­he­sive pad oc­cu­pies the cen­tral por­tion of the toe and is of an elon­gated form. The ad­he­sive toe pads allow the knight anole to eas­ily run up smooth, ver­ti­cal sur­faces, or run body down­ward on a hor­i­zon­tal plane. The body is cov­ered with small gran­u­lar scales with a yel­low or white stripe under the eye and over the shoul­der. They are bright green in color which can change to a dull gray­ish-brown. There is sex­ual di­mor­phism. Males have a pale pink throat­fan that dis­tends when ex­cited. (Dit­mars 1930, Behler 1979).

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • sexes colored or patterned differently
  • male more colorful
  • sexes shaped differently

Re­pro­duc­tion

Breed­ing oc­curs dur­ing the sum­mer. Court­ing is sim­i­lar to the be­gin­ning of fight­ing but at­ti­tudes are less ex­treme. The male nods his head one or more times and fre­quently ex­pands his throat­fan and then seizes the fe­male by the nape of the neck. The male forces his tail under the fe­male to bring their cloa­cas in con­tact. The male in­serts his hemipe­nis into the cloaca of the fe­male. Lab stud­ies have shown males at­tempt­ing to mate with other males; pos­si­bly due to their in­abil­ity to dis­tin­guish males from fe­males (Noble 1933). (Noble and Bradley, July 1933)

These anoles are egg-lay­ers (Pope 1966). (Pope, 1966)

  • Breeding interval
    Anoles breed once yearly.
  • Breeding season
    Breeding occurs during the summer months.

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

Knight Anoles are di­ur­nal. They can be fiercely de­fen­sive when a snake or any­thing like a snake (a stick, a gar­den hose), gets too close. Their de­fen­sive dis­play is to turns side­ways, ex­tends the throat­fan, raise back crest, and gape men­ac­ingly (Behler 1979). A male fight­ing with other male anoles pro­trudes the throat­fan to its fullest and then re­tracts it, re­peat­ing sev­eral times. He rises on all four legs, stiffly nods his head, and turns side­ways to­wards rival. The male then turns bright green. Fre­quently the fight will end with the dis­play, and the male most im­pressed by the dis­play will drop his crest and slink away. If fight­ing con­tin­ues, males rush at each other with mouths open. Some­times jaws will lock if they go head on, oth­er­wise they try to go for the limb of their op­po­nent (Noble 1933). (Behler and King, 1979; Noble and Bradley, July 1933)

Food Habits

In the wild they eat grubs, crick­ets, coachroaches, spi­ders, and moths (Ka­plan 1996). In cap­tiv­ity they can be fed crick­ets, meal­worms, and smaller lizards (web2 1999).

  • Animal Foods
  • insects
  • terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Many Ano­lis species are sold in pet stores. They make a good pet for the first time rep­tile owner.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Other Com­ments

Knight anoles are rel­a­tively slow and can be caught by hand, but they do have strong jaws and sharp teeth. In Florida, most do not sur­vive cold win­ters (Behler 1979).

Con­trib­u­tors

Jen­nifer Nieder­lan­der (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, James Hard­ing (ed­i­tor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity.

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

carnivore

an animal that mainly eats meat

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

heterothermic

having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature.

insectivore

An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.

internal fertilization

fertilization takes place within the female's body

introduced

referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

pet trade

the business of buying and selling animals for people to keep in their homes as pets.

polygynandrous

the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

territorial

defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

Ref­er­ences

????, G. "Ex­otic Rep­tiles" (On-line). Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 21, 2002 at http://​web2.​airmail.​net/​photuris/​reptilee.​htm.

Behler, J., F. King. 1979. Na­tional Audubon So­ci­ety Field Guide to North Amer­i­can Rep­tiles and Am­phib­ians.. New York: Al­fred A. Knopf.

Dit­mars, R. 1930. Rep­tiles of the World. New York:

Haber­ham, Z. "Ano­lis Con­tact Group" (On-line). Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 21, 2002 at http://​come.​to/​anoliscontactgroup.

Ka­plan, M. 1996. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 21, 2002 at http://​www.​anapsid.​org/​.

Noble, G., H. Bradley. July 1933. The mat­ing be­hav­ior of lizards; its bear­ing on the the­ory of sex­ual se­lec­tion.. New York Acad­emy of Sci­ences An­nals, 35: 25-100.

Pope, C. 1966. The Rep­tile World. New York:

Search

Navigation Links

Information
Pictures
Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Reptilia turtles, snakes, lizards, and relatives
  • Order Squamata
  • Family Polychrotidae
  • Genus Anolis
  • Species Anolis equestris Knight anole