Structural habitat use by the Many-scaled Anole, <i>Anolis polylepis</i> (Squamata: Polychrotidae)

Abstract

Lizards of the genus Anolis are commonly used as models for several ecological studies. Nevertheless, some aspects of their ecology have not been studied and information reported previously for several species must be reanalyzed. The aim of this study is to examine the structural habitat use in a population of the Many-scaled Anole, Anolis polylepis, with the purpose of comparing our results with the information reported previously for this species. Most of the captured individuals were on stems and we did not find any differences in the structural habitat use among sex/age classes. We found differences for perch height among individuals shedding their skin regarding those that are not. We also detected differences among our results and the information reported previously for this species. Such differences could be due to intrinsic factors of each population, such as the proportion of individuals that were molting their skin in a specific time. More studies with greater sample sizes and to a longer term are required to clearly understand the influence of these factors in the habitat use of A. polylepis and other anoline lizards.