anole

[prettygoodword]

anole (uh-NOH-lee) - n., any of several small-to-medium sized chiefly tropical New World lizards (genus Anolis) with a brightly colored dewlap and many with color-changing ability.


Now THIS one is the lizard. Most closely related to iguanas. Only one species is native to the United States, the Carolina anole (A. carolinensis), but others have been introduced in Florida and the Gulf Coast. A Carolina anole demonstrating its colors:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

The name arrived from French anolis, via Creole from a Carib language, probably Arawak.

---L.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Those guys make me nostalgic. Little iridescent ones run all over Jamaica.

[prettygoodword]

I almost did a pic of one of those instead! (The color-changing was too interesting to pass up though.)