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Dark green lizard. Black spot on top of head. Yellow green belly. Lizard covered in dried up skin that seems a lot bigger than the lizard.
Found in airconditioned shop, dead. In Windwradside a village at the foot of the Volcano Mount Scenery on Saba in the Caribbean Sea.
I found this lizard in morning on the floor of the airconditioned shop. I noticed the skin around it and am wondering.....Did the lizard die while trying to shed its skin or did it die and its skin dried up around it. And ...did the lizard shrink after it died? Why is the skin so much bigger than the lizard? Also the spot indicates that this could be a Least Saban Gecko (Sphaerodactylus sabanus) but it is too big and the hind feet look like lizard feet and not like gecko feet. Not sure of the name of this lizard. Any insight in what could have happened and what species of lizard would be much appreciated.
Hi Tukup and Saturniidae. Thanks for all your input. I have posted it in iNaturalist and added it to a local project in the hope someone knows more. So far no luck.
I have never seen any other color variant here on the island before so not so sure about this ID.
Good job of tracking it down Saturniidae. I was coming up with zilch for picures. I think she'd got it Muckpuk. Nice find. Too bad it was already dead.
I agree with you Tukup. The only endemic species of anole on Saba is Anolis sabanus.I found a picture of a color varient of the saba anole. It would most likely match this, because of the green underside you can see also slightly in my link.I would say it's more drag in coloration (spots) than in my link, because it was dead :)
https://www.zootierliste.de/en/index.php...
Hi Muckpuk. Just wondering if you've come up with an ID on this lizard yet. At first, I thought the same as Ornithoptera, but questioned the range. I can only find 2 lizards (an Anole and a Gecko) on Saba and the Anole is the only one it could possibly be, but the color is all wrong. With your example being dead, anoles ability to change color and the possibility of sexual dimorphism, this being a female, I can only come up with Anolis sabanus. This is interesting and I was just wondering what you've come up with.
Hi lastwildsonofthefield and ornithoptera80 I do not think Saba has this Anole. This is a 13square kilometer island (volcano) in the Caribbean and I do not think this anole has been spotted here. So I will continue looking for an ID and check it locally here. Thank you for the input though as it does look like an anole.
Spotted on Feb 7, 2020
Submitted on Feb 9, 2020
