Natural hybridization between two species of green Anoles: morphological and genetic evidence

Anoles are a group of lizards that offer a wide range of opportunities to study different biological topics. In this work, we examined some aspects of the morphology from 139 individuals of green anoles collected in urban parks of Santo Domingo and the Distrito Nacional. We investigated evidence of hybridization between the two Hispaniola endemic species Anolis chlorocyanus and A. cyanostictus and the introduced species A. porcatus. We categorized the individuals in pure species and intermediates based on their phenotype. Additionally, mitochondrial 16S sequence data was generated from the collected specimens, to compare molecular and phenotypic species assignments. We consider the general congruence between both data sets in most but inconsistency in a few specimens as evidence for hybridization between the two endemic species. However, we did not find evidence of hybridization between any of these species and the introduced species A. porcatus. Nevertheless, the continuous expansion of the distribution of this invasive species possibly will have drastic negative consequences for the populations of the endemic species.