Morphological Diversification in Solitary Endemic Anoles:Anolis concolorandAnolis pinchotifrom San Andrés and Providence Islands, Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Morphological diversification in island anoles follows different patterns in the Greater and Lesser Antilles, respectively. Most Greater Antillean anoles are grouped within six ecomorph classes according to habitat use: crown giant, trunk-crown, trunk, trunk-ground, grass-bush and twig. In contrast, most species from the Lesser Antilles cannot be assigned to these ecomorphs (two-species island anoles) or are similar only to the trunk-crown ecomorph (solitary species or single-species island anoles). Anolis concolor (San Andres island) and A. pinchoti (Providentia, Santa Catalina and Crab Cay islands) are sister endemic taxa. We characterized the morphology of these species in order to compare them to other island anoles previously assigned to Greater Antillean ecomorphs. Neither, A. concolor nor A. pinchoti was fully assigned to these ecomorphs. However, A. concolor is similar to both trunk-crown and trunk-ground ecomorphs, while A. pinchoti resembles trunk-ground species. It seems that some eco...