page_title: Anolis oculatus
section_title: Life cycle and reproduction
hierarchical_section_title: Anolis oculatus / Life cycle and reproduction
caption_attribution_description: Female Dominican Anole (Anolis oculatus). North Caribbean ecotype (A. o. cabritensis). Cabrits National Park, Dominica.
context_page_description: Anolis oculatus, the Dominican anole or eyed anole, is a species of anole lizard. It is endemic to the Caribbean island of Dominica, where it is found in most environments. The species is found in a diverse range of color forms, which one herpetologist once classified as four subspecies, which most other scientists did not recognise because the forms gradually inter-grade with one another. Two later researchers have instead promoted the "ecotypes" concept, hypothesizing the color forms are maintained by the ecological conditions of the surrounding environment, despite being genetically indistinguishable. The morphology of some traits is subject to clinal variation, gradually changing from one side of the island to the other, or from sea level to the hilltops. The ground color ranges from pale tan or yellow to deep green or brown. It also has patterned markings that range from light-colored speckling to complex marbled patterns, and some populations also have large black-ringed "eye" spots on their flanks.
  The Dominican anole spends much of the time in trees but mainly hunts on the ground.
context_section_description: Dominican anoles are relatively long-living and late maturing compared to mainland anole species.  Males mature at a size of 35 mm SVL, and females mature at 40 mm SVL, which they are likely to attain at an age of two or three months old.  They breed throughout the year, with a peak at the end of the dry season, particularly in areas such as the north Caribbean coast that have more seasonal rainfall variation.  Females are oviparous, and lay multiple clutches of eggs each year, with a short period between clutches.  Females in captivity have produced eggs every 14 days.  Each clutch typically contains only one egg, though clutches of two can occur without apparent relationship to season, location, or size of the females.  Egg production alternates ovaries and overlaps cycles, with one ovary ending its cycle after the opposite ovary has begun.  Eggs are laid sheltered under ground litter such as rocks or leaves.
caption: Female Dominican anole. North Caribbean ecotype. Cabrits National Park, Dominica.
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