SOLENODON 2: 53-54, 2002 53 Data on a clutch of Anolis evermani (Sauria:Iguanidaea) from Puerto Rico Alberto R. ESTRADA Model Institution for Excellence Project, Universidad Metropolitana, PO Box 21150, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00928. [email protected], [email protected] Anolis evermani Stejneger is one of the two species of green Anolis living in the Puerto Rico Archipelago. Its populations are known in the areas covered by forests, in the mountain zones as well as in low lands in most of the island. Males reach 72 mm of snout-vent length (SVL) and females reach 61 mm of SVL (Rivero, 1978, 1998, Schwartz and Henderson, 1991). Gorman and Litch (1974) and Litch and Gorman (1975) documented the ovarian and testy activity cycles of various species of Anolis in mountain and low land habitats in Puerto Rico. The gonad cycles of the populations of A. evermani in El Verde and La Mina in Sierra de Luquillo constitute the only data known about the reproduction of this species. Such data shows a reproductive activity peak between January 15 and October 15, and a short recess from ovarian activity between December and mid January (Gorman and Litch, 1974). The gravid females studied by Gorman and Litch (1974) did not present more than two eggs in the oviduct. Up to now, there are no reports in the literature on the clutch and the incubation period of the eggs of A. evermani, and most of the species of the Anolis gender in Puerto Rico. On February 19, 1999, near the house of the Department of Biology of the University of Puerto Rico, in the Palo Colorado forest of El Yunque (± 590 m of elevation), Sierra de Luquillo, a small anoline egg was located in a small depression at the foot of a slope formed by the unevenness of the path. Its cover was completely white, turgid in its aspect and ovoid in shape with the following dimensions: larger diameter 11.2 mm and smaller diameter 6.0 mm. The egg was collected with a small amount of the substratum where it was found and put in a cylindrical vial (31.1 mm in diameter x 52.5 mm in height) with a screen cover, and kept in the laboratory at environment temperature that varied between 25.0-30.0?C. On alternate days, three to four drops of distilled water were added to maintain the humidity of the substratum. Fifteen days after the finding, the egg still had the same coloring, but its volume and shape had changed, increasing its smaller diameter to 1.4 mm, while its longitude remained the same. Thirty-eight days after the collection, the larger diameter had decreased to 10.9 mm, while the smaller diameter to 8.3 mm; the hatching took place at 42 days. The coloration of the newborn was bright green spotted with dots and brown spots and the belly was yellowish. The tail presented light brown wide rings. The SVL of the newborn was 20.0 mm and the length of its tail was 41.1 mm. Its morphological characteristics and the body coloration allowed for its identification as the species Anolis evermani. The egg shell and the specimen are deposited in the herpetological collection of the Department of Biology of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. 54 SOLENODON No.2, 2002 REFERENCES Gorman, G. C. and P. Lithc. 1974. Seasonality in ovarian cycles among tropical Anolis lizards. Ecology 55:360-369. Litch, P. and G. C. Gorman. 1975. Altitudinal effects on seasonal testis cycles of tropical Anolis lizards. Copeia, 1975 (3):496-504. Rivero, J. A. 1978. Los Anfibios y Reptiles de Puerto Rico. Universidad de Puerto Rico Ed. Universitaria, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Primera edición.152 pp. Rivero, J. A. 1998. Los Anfibios y Reptiles de Puerto Rico. Segunda edición revisada. Universidad de Puerto Rico. Ed. Universitaria, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 510 pp. Schwartz, A. and R. W. Henderson. 1991. Amphibians and reptiles of the West Indies. Descriptions, distributions, and natural history. University of Florida Press. 714 pp.