Stream Anole

Appearance

Total length to 243 mm, males (adults 59 to 85 mm in standard length) larger than females (adults 56 to 68 mm), tail moderate, 60 to 65% of total length. Upper surface dark brown with an olive cast, dorsum usually marked with dark bands, as are limbs and tail; a distinct cream-colored stripe runs from above shoulder posteriorly about two-thirds length of body, venter cream, often with yellow (or orangish in adult males) wash; iris brown.

Naming

Synonyms:
Norops oxylophus (Cope, 1875)

PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970 and other authors listed A. oxylophus as a synonym of A. lionotus. There seems to be no consensus about the validity of this species.
The two species differ mostly in dorsal scalation (dorsal scales large, much larger than ventral scales in N. lionotus versus dorsal scales of moderate size and about the same size as largest ventral scales in N. oxylophus) and body pattern (a longitudinal lateral pale stripe usually absent in N. lionotus versus lateral pale stripe always present in N. oxylophus). Until a comprehensive study of the geographic variation in this group of anoles has been published McCranie & Köhler 2015 prefer to recognize N. lionotus and N. oxylophus as separate species.

Distribution

Costa Rica, Nicaragua, W Panama, NE Honduras

Habitat

It is a riparian species found along moderate-sized, fairly rapid streams in lowland rainforest, gallery forest, and the lower portions of the Premontane Wet Forest and Rainforest zones.