NEWS106
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Lizards
Portraitof a femaleKnightAnole.Femalesalsohaveclearlyvisibledewlaps.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
his splendid lizardhas longbeen the
dreamofmany terrariumenthusiasts.
Originally the species was found only in
Cuba,where11subspecies,oftendistinguis-
hableby their coloration, inhabit the tree-
tops.As longagoas the late1950syears the
Knight Anole was released in Florida and
since thenhas spread rapidly.Not entirely
withoutconsequences fortheenvironment,
aswhile these large lizards– theycanattain
a head-body length of 15-16 cm, and can
measure agood50 cm long including the
T
With400 species,Anolis is oneof themost successful groups of lizards in
theworld. Itswealthof forms and individuals is incomparable.TheKnight
Anole,
Anolisequestris
, isoneof the largestof all the species.
TheKnightAnole -
aCubanexile inFlorida
byThorstenHoltmann
tail – feedmainlyon relatively small insects,
if theopportunityarises small lizards (inclu-
ding other
Anolis
) or frogs may disappear
intotheirstomachs. ForthisreasonMeshada
has described the species as averitable
Ty-
rannosaurus rex
of the trees. Knight Anoles
tend tobeomnivoresandwill eveneat fruit
if theoccasionarises.Todate therehasbeen
no research todetermine towhich subspe-
ciesthese“FloridaKnightAnoles”belong,but
theyareusuallyregardedasbeingthenomi-
