Brown anole
species of reptile
The brown anole (Anolis sagrei), also known commonly as the Bahaman anole, Cuban brown anole, and de la Sagra's anole, is a species of lizard in the family Anolidae. The species is native to Cuba, the Bahamas, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Jamaica, the Swan Islands, the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, and the Caribbean coast of Guatemala and Honduras. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, via the importation and exportation of plants in pots in which brown anoles laid eggs in the soil, and is now found in Florida and other regions of the United States including southern Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Southern California. It has also been introduced to other Caribbean islands, Mexico, Singapore, and Taiwan.
This species is highly invasive. It is also much more wary of humans than most other anole species.
In its introduced range, it reaches exceptionally high population densities, is capable of expanding its range very quickly, and both outcompetes and consumes many species of native lizards, like the green anole. The brown anole's introduction into the United States in the early 1970s has altered the behavior and negatively affected populations of the native Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis, also known as the green anole), which has since generally been relegated to the treetops.
Etymology
The specific name, sagrei, is in honor of Spanish botanist Ramón de la Sagra.
Description
The brown anole is normally a light brown color with darker brown to black markings on its back, and several tan to light color lines on its sides.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Brown anole” is species of reptile. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Brown, anole and species, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of reptile” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q790586. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Brown anole”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Brown anole primary sources, Brown anole archive and Brown research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Brown anole”?
- Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
- Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Brown anole” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.