The distribution of Cuban Brown Anoles, Anolis sagrei (Squamata: Dactyloidae), in Mexico, with new records and comments on ecological interactions

Abstract


 
 
 
 The Cuban Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) is native to the Bahamas, the Cuba Archipelago, and Little Cayman, but is now among the world’s most widely distributed invasive lizards. In Mexico, the species has been reported from the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Yucatán. However, no complete compendium exists summarizing the locality-level distribution of A. sagrei in Mexico. Herein we provide an exhaustive compilation of vouchered Mexican specimens based on museum records and the literature. Supplementing this review are reports of five new localities for A. sagrei in Veracruz and Tabasco. We conclude with brief comments on the potential ecological effects of this species in Mexico.
 
 
 

Herpetofauna Del Municipio De Balancán, Tabasco, México

“…Durante el trabajo de campo se registraron dos especies no nativas de México: H. frenatus que es nativa del sur de Asia, norte de África e islas del Pacífico, y Norops sagrei, especie nativa de islas del Caribe (Bahamas, Cuba y Little Cayman; Lee, 1996;Valdez-Villavicencio & Peralta-García, 2008;Vásquez-Cruz et al, 2020). Ambas especies se encuentran registradas en diversas áreas dentro del territorio mexicano, incluyendo el estado de Tabasco, en donde generalmente se encuentran relacionadas con zonas urbanizadas y asentamientos humanos (Lee, 1996).…”

New records and range expansion of <i>Norops sagrei</i> (Squamata: Dactyloidae) in Honduras highlight the importance of citizen science in documenting non-native species

“…Some interactions involving non-native lizards in urban sites in Honduras have been documented recently (Antúnez-Fonseca et al 2021), and potential interactions involving non-native populations of N. sagrei and native lizards is also well documented (e.g. Stroud et al 2017, Fisher et al 2020, Vásquez-Cruz et al 2020.…”

“…The Brown Anole, Norops sagrei (Cocteau in Duméril & Bibron, 1837), is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands (Schwartz and Henderson 1991, McCranie and Köhler 2015, González-Sánchez et al 2021, but has been introduced to numerous localities worldwide including Central, North, South America, and Southeast Asia (Tan and Lim 2012, Norval et al 2016, Amador et al 2017, Batista et al 2019, Vásquez-Cruz et al 2020. This species has a well-documented history as an invasive species in the southeastern USA dating back to the late 1800's (Garman 1887), and populations in Florida have been documented as the source for some secondary introductions and re-introductions (Kolbe et al 2017).…”

A summary of reports of the Cuban Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) in Texas, USA

“…On Bibron 1837 (Dactyloidae) (Fig. 1) is native to Cuba, Little Cayman, and the Bahamas (Powell and Henderson 2012;Powell et al 2016) and has successfully colonized many regions outside its native range (e.g., Williams 1969;Norval et al 2016;Vásquez-Cruz et al 2020). In the United States, populations have become established in Hawaii (Kishinami and Kishinami 1996;McKeown 1996;Goldberg et al 2002), California (Mahrdt et al 2014;Fisher et al 2020), Texas (King et al 1987;Dixon 2000Dixon , 2013, Louisiana (Thomas et al 1990;Platt and Fontenot 1994;Edwards and Lailvaux 2012), Alabama (Steffen and Birkhead 2007), Georgia (Campbell 1996), South Carolina (Turnbough 2006), and Florida (King and Krakauer 1966).…”