Small lizard at night, Tatama National Park, Colombia

Note the dew on its body, it's probably cold and therefore was not in the mood to flee. Will ask an expert for help with the species.

comments (7)

John Sullivan

Lion

Is this the same individual as
? It's certainly the same species.

Now, the identity of that species is not an easy question! I first thought from these photos that it was one of the small South American lizards in the family Gymnophthalmidae, also called "microteiids". But that photo in the other observation looks just like an Anolis in shape and posture. So I'm about 80% sure that this is Anolis sp. That doesn't narrow it down as much as we'd like, since there are at least 76 Anolis sp in Colombia (http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=anolis&location=colombia&submit=Search). Fortunately, most of them are not green and thus can be ruled out quickly. Unfortunately, quite a few of them are green, and quite a few more have no photo linked from the Reptile Database and thus may or may not be green. I quickly glanced through all 76 of these Reptile Database pages to see if I happened to notice a photo that looked like a good match. Only one seemed like even a remote possibility to me, Anolis aequatorialis, but I doubt whether it's a close enough match to be that species. Maybe it's one of the unpictured ones? Posted 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks a lot for looking into this, John! I totally understand that this one is very hard, in the meanwhile I had also tried my luck with some Colombian experts, but they wouldn't dare to beyond the genus either :)
  I did find this really beautiful poster from the Choco area on the Ecuador side, which is relatively close:
  http://www.tropicalherping.com/science/arteaga_et_al_2017a.pdf
  
  For a layman like me, still not that helpful in this case :) Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. John Sullivan
    
    Lion
    
    Wow, that Choco area chart is beautiful. I hadn't seen that one yet -- I do have the Reptiles & Amphibians of Mindo, Ecuador by those same Tropical Herping folks, which is equally beautiful.
    
    If we were under the assumption that your lizard is also present on that Choco chart (not a great assumption, but reasonably likely), then we could rule out the microteiids conclusively, as none of them are even slightly green (the microteiids are lizards 57 through 64 on that chart). But there are a bunch of green Anolis! None of the images on that Choco chart look just exactly like yours, but there is a lot of variation within a given species also.
    
    I'd recommend sending an email to Alejandro Arteaga (whose email address is listed on the first text page of that chart) to see if he can help with your ID. Posted 7 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Will do that, John, thanks for the reference. I was really impressed by what those people are doing at tropical herps. Did you ever do a tour with them? Posted 7 years ago
    2. 1. John Sullivan
        
        Lion
        
        I haven't yet, but I expect to in the next two or three years. I can't decide which of their numerous destinations to choose first though! Posted 7 years ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        They seem to specialize in Ecuador based on the highest herps count :) Posted 7 years ago
        
        John Sullivan
        
        Lion
        
        That is where they are based. They used to only offer trips to Ecuador, but recently branched out to various destinations worldwide. Posted 7 years ago

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