page_title: Dactyloidae
section_title: Sexual dimorphism
hierarchical_section_title: Dactyloidae / Appearance and behavior / Sexual dimorphism
caption_attribution_description: From Mindo, Ecuador. Female (left) and male (right). Sexual dimorphism at its best.
context_page_description: Dactyloidae are a family of lizards commonly known as anoles and native to warmer parts of the Americas, ranging from southeastern United States to Paraguay. Instead of treating it as a family, some authorities prefer to treat it as a subfamily, Dactyloinae, of the family Iguanidae. In the past they were included in the family Polychrotidae together with Polychrus, but the latter genus is not closely related to the true anoles.
  Anoles are small to fairly large lizards, typically green or brownish, but their color varies depending on species and many can also change it. In most species at least the male has a dewlap, an often brightly colored flap of skin that extends from the throat/neck and is used in displays. Anoles share several characteristics with geckos, including details of the foot structure and the ability to voluntarily break off the tail, but they are only very distantly related, anoles being part of Iguania.
  Anoles are active during the day and feed mostly on small animals such as insects, but some will also take fruits, flowers, and nectar. They are fiercely territorial. After mating, the female lays an egg; in many species she may do so every few days or weeks.
context_section_description: In some anoles the sexes are very similar and difficult to separated under normal viewing conditions, but most species exhibit clear sexual dimorphism, which allows one to fairly easily discern between adult males and females. In a few species the female is slightly larger than the male, but in others the sexes are about the same size. However, in most the males are larger, in some more than three times the mass of females. This size difference can result in differences in the microhabitat (for example, males using larger branches than females) and feeding (males on average eating large prey) between the sexes of a single species. Males of some species have proportionally far longer heads than females, but in others it is nearly alike. The crest along the nape, back and/or tail is larger in the males. In species with tall crests this difference can be obvious, but in small-crested species it is often inconspicuous and easily overlooked, especially when not raised. The dewlap is often larger in males; in some species only the male has a dewlap. In a few there are differences in the shape of the nose, but this is only known to be prominent in the proboscis and leaf-nosed anoles, which both have long-nosed males and more normal looking females (it is likely that something similar can be seen in smooth anole, but the female of that species is still unknown). A less obvious difference between anole sexes is the enlarged post-cloacal scales in males.
  The males of many species are overall more brightly colored, while females are duller, more cryptic, and sometimes their upperparts have striped or lined patterns that serve to break up the outline of the anole. In general, the juvenile colors and pattern resemble those of the adult female. The dewlap tends to be more colorful in males, with clear differences being common among anoles of the mainland of the Americas and comparatively rarer in the Caribbean species.
caption: The nose differs between the sexes in the unusual proboscis anole (male with proboscis)[105]
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