Western Wyoming Community College

Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola have species of anole lizards with distinct body types, including the grass lizards, which have long tails; the canopy lizards, which have large toe pads; and the twig lizards, which have short legs. Anole species with each of these three body types exist on each of the four islands. The phylogenetic trees in the figure below illustrate two hypotheses for how these types of lizards may have evolved.