Classification: Introduced Species

Description: Compared to many other anoles, it is a stocky, muscular and aggressive, although it is a small (compared to Central American anoles) to moderately-sized species (compared to insular Caribbean anoles). Measurements in 2015 found the animals to have a snout-vent length (SVL) which can reach to 3.0 inches in males, and up to 2.9 inches in females, although most females are much smaller.

It is sexually dimorphic, with the males being prettier than the females. The juvenile lizards are also coloured differently than adults. The males of this species are easily recognizable by their permanently erect caudal crests -which is a high sail- or fin-like structure running down the top of their tails, which is supported anatomically by bony extensions of the vertebrae. The crest is very short along the animals back, and gets higher again on the nape of the neck. The tail is compressed in cross-section.

The colour is variable; the head and body are bronze to greenish grey, with faint and irregular brownish spots, and the belly is greenish-yellow and the throat is whitish. The iris is dark brown. The male dewlaps is coloured mustard or greenish yellow, with a burnt-orange, reddish-orange to reddish-coloured band along the margin. Females have a well developed but smaller dewlap and a low caudal crest. The juveniles are transversely banded in brown, with some purplish-brown dots on the throat and the crotch (when preserved), and often have a light mid-dorsal stripe, which some females retain into adulthood.

It can change its colour significantly from a very light grey to reddish-brown and dark black, and can shift colour in reaction to its behavioural state. They are thus often referred to as 'chameleons' in many places because of their ability to change colour, but they are not related to true chameleons.

Habitat: It appears to prefer urban habitats, being mostly found on tree trunks or buildings in towns or cities, and rarely in more rural areas or in forests. These lizards are "ground-trunk anoles", which is an "Anolis ecomorph", and means that they spend the majority of their time on the bottom two meters of tree trunks, but will go to the ground to forage and also to lay eggs.

Range: In southern Florida it has been documented west up to the Tampa Bay area and occurs on Key Biscayne, Dade County and in Miami. It was introduced sometime in the 1970s.

Found in these States: FL

Diet: Crested anoles are primarily insectivores, eating prey that range in size from ants to large roaches. They also feed on small fruits, frogs, and even other lizards (including the young of their own species). Crested anoles are foragers and typically scan their environment for food from a perching position on the trunks of trees or the sides of buildings.

Reproduction: Males will regularly mate with females within their territory. In order to attract a mate, male anoles will approach females and perform a series of displays. These include bobbing the head, pushups, and displaying the dewlap. If the female acknowledges the male's display, she will bob her head in response. When the male mounts the female, she will arch her neck and the male will bite it. He then brings his tail closer to the female's and inserts his hemipene into the female's cloaca. However, females may reject the mating advances of a male before this point and if so, will flee instead of arching their neck.

Egg production in crested anoles is seasonal, with activity dropping in colder months and during the dry season. Crested anole females lay one or two eggs under logs and rock piles at two-week intervals. In general, when a female anole finds a spot to lay her eggs, she will nudge this spot with her snout. This behavior is then followed by digging with her forelegs. When the has been laid in the hole, the female will push it in further and then cover it with dirt. This species also participates in communal egg-laying, in which multiple females will use the same nest site to lay their eggs. The incubation period is 50 days, on average.

Status: This is an extremely common species in Puerto Rico, and it is believed that it has likely become more common over the last few centuries as humans have converted much more of the island to the type of habitat that this species prefers.

Subspecies: One found in the United States:
   Peurto Rican Crested Anole - (Anolis cristatellus cristatellus

Taxonomy: