Herpetology Notes, volume 5: 95-97 (2012) (published online on 21 April 2012)
A record of a green anole (Anolis carolinensis Voigt 1832), from the
wild in southwestern Taiwan
Gerrut Norval1*, Jean-Jay Mao2 and Stephen R. Goldberg3
The green anole (Anolis carolinensis) is a small
arboreal lizard, native to the southern parts of the
USA, from Florida, through Georgia, North Carolina
and South Carolina (Smith, 1946; Conant and Collins,
1998). Anolis carolinensis has also been introduced
into Anguilla, Grand Bahama, Belize, Bermuda, the
Canary Islands, Cayman Islands, the Commonwealth
of the North Mariana Islands, the Federate States of
Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, the Ogasawara Islands,
the Ryukyu Islands, Palau, and Spain, as well as in the
USA in California, Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and West
Virginia, although not all these introductions resulted in
establishing viable populations (Kraus, 2009, and the
references stated therein).
On the 20th of March, 2002, an A. carolinensis was
observed basking on a piece of PVC irrigation pipe
(Fig.1), laying on the ground surface in a betel nut palm
(Areca catechu L.) stand, growing on the bank of a creek
that flows through Santzepu, Sheishan District, Chiayi
County, Taiwan (23º25’44”N, 120º28’55”E, 285 m
elev., datum: WGS84). When the lizard was approached,
it fled to the trunk of an A. catechu (Fig.1), and although
it could be photographed, attempts to capture it failed,
and the lizard fled to the crown of the palm. At 11:00,
on the 2nd of October, 2003, an A. carolinensis roadkill
(Fig.2) was collected from a tarred road in the same
vicinity (23º25’47”N, 120º28’55”E, 285 m elev., datum:
WGS84) as where the first observation was made. The
lizard had a snout-vent length of 48 mm, and a tail
1 Applied Behavioural Ecology & Ecosystem Research Unit,
Department of Environmental Sciences, UNISA, Private
Bag X6, Florida, 1710, Republic of South Africa, (e-mail:
[email protected])
2 Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, National Ilan
University. No. 1, Sec. 1, Shen-Lung Rd., Ilan, 260, Taiwan,
R.O.C.
3 Department of Biology, Whittier College, Whittier, California
90608, U.S.A.
*Corresponding author
length of 101 mm. The trunk of the body was damaged
and a fully shelled oviductal egg was protruding
from it (Fig.2). The A. carolinensis was subsequently
deposited in the herpetology collection of the Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), Los
Angeles, California, USA, as LACM 182814. Since the
area described herein is visited regularly and no other A.
carolinensis has been observed in this area to date, we
can not exclude the possibility that the same individual
was observed on both occasions. It is also not known
Figure 1. The green anole (Anolis carolinensis) on the trunk
of a betelnut palm (Areca catechu) that it fled to when
attempts were made to capture it (photographed by Gerrut
Norval).
96
Gerrut Norval et al.
Figure 2. The green anole (Anolis carolinensis) roadkill that was collected from a tarred road in Santzepu, Sheishan District,
Chiayi County, Taiwan. Note the shelled oviductal egg that protruded from the body of the lizard when it was found on the road
(photographed by Gerrut Norval).
whether the lizard was an escaped or released pet, or if
it were the remnant of a founder population that failed to
establish. It should also be noted that, in the mid 1990’s,
the second author (JJM) noted that A. carolinensis
was a common species in the pet trade in Taipei City,
northern Taiwan, and that the lizards often escaped from
their cages and were free-running within the pet shops
(Mao, personal observation), which could lead to A.
carolinensis establishing in the wild. The existence of A.
carolinensis in the pet trade in northern Taiwan has been
confirmed by Shiau et al. (2006), and A. carolinensis
has also been sighted in the pet trade in Chiayi City,
southwestern Taiwan, on several occasions (Norval,
personal observation). The brown anole (Anolis sagrei),
an exotic invasive species in Taiwan (Norval et al.,
2002; Chang, 2007; Norval et al., 2009), exists in in the
locality described herein. Since it has been determined
that the A. sagrei populations in Taiwan originated
from Florida, USA (Kolbe et al, 2004; Kolbe, Larson
and Losos, 2007; Norval et al., 2011), it is conceivable
that some A. carolinensis could also have established
populations in Taiwan from the same origin in the same
manner.
The discovery of A. carolinensis in the wild in Taiwan
is alarming. Because Florida (USA), Hawaii, and
Taiwan, are located at similar latitudes and proximity to
the ocean, the climatic conditions of these localities are
very similar. We suspect that if suitable numbers of A.
carolinensis are released into the wild, these lizards will
establish viable populations in Taiwan. Since it has been
shown that parasites can be introduced into new localities
with A. carolinensis (Goldberg, Bursey and Kraus,
2004), and because these lizards have been implicated
in negative impacts on native arthropods and reptiles
in the Ryukyu Archipelago, where A. carolinensis has
become an invasive species (Karube, 2010; Toda et al,
2010; Yoshimura and Okochi, 2010), it can be expected
that they would impact local ecosystems in a negative
manner.
In order to prevent Taiwan from becoming like Florida
(USA), where numerous exotic invasive amphibian and
reptile populations exist (Meshaka, Butterfield and
Hauge, 2004), the species permitted in the pet trade
in Taiwan should be revised. Also, to prevent future
accidental introductions of exotic invasive amphibians
and reptiles into Taiwan, drastic steps, including the
quarantining and careful inspection of imported cargos
from tropical sites, are merited.
Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank ShaoChang Huang for his kind assistance with obtaining some of the
references, and Gernot Vogel and Prof. Jonathan Losos for their
comments and for reviewing this paper.
Anolis carolinensis from southwestern Taiwan
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Accepted by Philip de Pous