CreatureData

Crested anole

Anolis cristatellus Duméril & Bibron, 1837

Status not recordedlizards

The crested anole (Anolis cristatellus) is a species in the family Anolidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 8.4 g and reach 6.73 cm in length. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Puerto Rico.

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Quick facts about the crested anole

Weight
8.4 gsrc for Weight
Length
5.09 cm – 6.73 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Omnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
7 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
1 – 2.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
6.5 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
16 – 18src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active
By day (diurnal)src for Active
Brain mass
98.1 mgsrc for Brain mass
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the crested anole?

CRESTED ANOLE · LENGTH 6.73 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 6.73 cm, the recorded maximum length of the crested anole is about 4.0% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

What eats the crested anole?

Species recorded in published studies and collections.

Recorded predators of the crested anole

1 on record

  1. Puerto Rican racer Borikenophis portoricensis3 sources

Each pair is recorded by at least two independent datasets. A record shows the animal was seen or found to have eaten the other, including scavenged carcasses and young animals; it does not say how often. Compiled by Global Biotic Interactions (CC0 1.0).

References for these records
  • https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/9923337
  • ALSOPHIS PORTORICENSIS (Puerto Rican Racer). DIET. 1993. Herpetological Review 24(4): 150-151
  • https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/199991782

Where does the crested anole live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The crested anole is listed for 1 country.

Puerto Rico
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Puerto Rico

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ReptileDB (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the crested anole as introduced in 7 countries, and flagged as invasive in 3 of them.

  1. Dominicainvasive
  2. Dominican Republicinvasive
  3. Sint Maarteninvasive
  4. Costa Rica
  5. St. Martin
  6. Trinidad & Tobago
  7. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the crested anole endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the crested anole classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classReptilia
  4. orderSquamata
  5. familyAnolidae
  6. genusAnolis
  7. SpeciesAnolis cristatellus Duméril & Bibron, 1837

Synonyms Anolis cozumelae, Anolis cristatellus wileyi, Anolis lindeni, Ctenonotus cristatellus

Other names and names in other languages (15)
  • Common Puerto Rican anoleEnglish
  • Puerto Rican crested anoleEnglish
  • Puerto Rico crested anoleEnglish
  • Puertoricansk KamanoleDanish
  • KammanolisGerman
  • Anolis CrestadoSpanish
  • Abaniquillo Caribeño CrestadoSpanish
  • Lagartija CrestadaSpanish
  • Lagartijo CrestadoSpanish
  • Anolis à crêteFrench
  • Anolis à crête de Porto RicoFrench
  • Anolis à crête de Puerto RicoFrench
  • Anolide crestatoItalian
  • ホカケアノールJapanese
  • Гребенчатый анолисRussian

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidata

Relatives of the crested anole

Other species in the same genus Anolis.

Green anole

Anolis carolinensis

AnolidaeNo free photo yet

Blue anole

Anolis gorgonae

AnolidaeNo free photo yet

CompareCrested anole vs Green anoleCrested anole vs Brown anoleCrested anole vs Blue anoleCrested anole vs Cuban anole

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the crested anole?

An adult crested anole weighs 8.4 g and measures 5.09 cm – 6.73 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the crested anole live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the crested anole for 1 country: Puerto Rico. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the crested anole an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the crested anole as invasive in 3 countries: Dominica, Dominican Republic and Sint Maarten. It lists it as introduced in 7 in all.

What kind of animal is the crested anole?

The crested anole (Anolis cristatellus) belongs to the family Anolidae in the order Squamata.

What eats the crested anole?

Animals recorded preying on the crested anole include puerto rican racer. The records are compiled by Global Biotic Interactions from published studies; each pair is reported by at least two datasets.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Crested anole (Anolis cristatellus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-anole

MLA

“Crested anole (Anolis cristatellus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-anole.

BibTeX
@misc{crested_anole_2026,
  title = {Crested anole (Anolis cristatellus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/crested-anole},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}