Giant Crown Anole, Anolis richardi Duméril & Bibron

Anolis Richardi Duméril & Bibron 1837: 141
Ptychonotus (Ctenodeira) richardii — Fitzinger 1843: 66
Anolis richardii — Boulenger 1885: 37
Anolis trossulus Garman 1887: 38
Anolis trossulus — Barbour 1916
Anolis richardii richardii — Underwood In Williams et al. 1959


Holotype: MNHN Ig. 53 (fide Underwood 1959); MCZ Type locality: “Tortola”. Revised to “Crown Point, Tobago” by Lazell 1972.

Distribution Lesser Antilles: Grenadines, Grenada, Tobago, St. Vincent; Surinam (introduced according to Hoogmoed 1981: 281). The Tobago population seems to have been introduced from the Grenadines or Grenada.

This is large, morphologically variable anole, with males reaching 140 mm snout-to-vent. It is often seen sitting on tree trunks with its head down. It has a dark green or brown dorsal surface, with a green-gray to yellow ventral surface. Its dewlap is orange, yellow, or gray-green. Females and juveniles often have a yellow or cream-colored lateral stripe. This species reaches relatively high population densities along streams.

Barbour T. 1916. Amphibians and reptiles of Tobago. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 29: 221-224

Boulenger G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London.

Creer DA, Kevin de Queiroz, Todd R. Jackman, Jonathan B. Losos and Allan Larson 2001. Systematics of the Anolis roquet series of the southern Lesser Antillies. Journal of Herpetology 35 (3): 428-441.

Duméril AMC, Bibron G. 1837. Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete des Reptiles. Vol. 4. Libr. Encyclopédique Roret, Paris, 570 pp.

Fitzinger L. 1843. Systema Reptilium, fasciculus primus, Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel, Wien: 106 pp.

Garmam S. 1887. On West Indian reptiles. Iguanidae. Bull. Essex Inst. 19: 25-50.

Gorman GC, Atkins, L. 1968. The relationships of the Anolis of the roquet species group (Sauria: Iguanidae). III. Comparative study of display behavior. Breviora (284): 1-31

Hoogmoed MS. 1981. Introduced species of reptiles in Surinam. Notes on the herpetofauna of Surinam VIII. Amphibia-Reptilia 1: 277-285

Köhler G. 2014. Characters of external morphology used in Anolis taxonomy—Definition of terms, advice on usage, and illustrated examples. Zootaxa 3774 (2): 201–257

Lazell JD. 1972. The anoles (Sauria: Iguanidae) of the lesser Antilles. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harvard 143 (1): 1-115

Malhotra A, Thorpe RS. 1999. Reptiles & Amphibians of the Eastern Caribbean. MacMillan, London & Oxford

Mertens R. 1972. Herpetofauna Tobagana. Stuttgarter Beitr. zur Naturkunde nr. 252 22 pp.

Poe S. 2004. Phylogeny of anoles. Herpetological Monographs 18: 37-89

Roughgarden J. 1995. Anolis Lizards of the Caribbean: Ecology, Evolution, and Plate Tectonics. Oxford University Press, 200 pp.

Schwartz A., Henderson RW. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 720 pp.

Williams EE. Quesnel VC. Kenny JS, Underwood G. 1959. The anoles of the Eastern Caribbean (Sauria, Iguanidae) Part. I. Preface; Part II. Two sibling species of anoles in Trinidad; Part. III. Revisionary notes. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 121 (5): 185-226 + 1 plate