Figure 6. Variation seen in Anolis cristatellus from the Mata de Plátano Field Station. A. Grey/tan patterning with heavily mottling. B. Brown morph with mid-dorsal yellow stripe and light dorsal and lateral flecks. C. Brown morph with no mottling or mid-dorsal spots, light flecks present. D. Lateral shot of the head of the individual from Panel C. E. Brown morph with light mottling and striping, and dark spots running down the spine. Note the slightly raised dorsal crest (more prominent at the tail).F. Lateral shot of the head of the individual from Panel F. All photographs taken by Justin M. Bernstein.
To our knowledge, this is the first faunal checklist on the bat and herpetofauna of Puerto Rico. Our findings expand the current knowledge of biodiversity and species richness in this protected region. Although more standardized methods over greater periods of time will provide more insight on species abundances, our results show that A. cristatellus and S. grandisquamis guarionex likely contribute large portions to the vertebrate biomass here, as has been found in other studies (Rodda et al. 2001). There are likely more species in Mata de Plátano. For example, there have been several accounts of A. occultus from the field station (pers. comm. Abel Vale, 2022). Although we did not see these species during our time at the reserve, future surveys will be needed to better understand the density of A. occultus and N. leporinus in this area. The Puerto Rican fauna has been studied well, yet new species have recently described (e.g., Díaz-Lameiro et al. 2022), thus it is critical to perform local, intensive surveys and document faunal inventories. These local intensive surveys and faunal checklists can provide a steady supply of data to understand the current status of Caribbean species. The main threats to Caribbean bats and herpetofauna stem from habitat loss and fragmentation related to human development, and climatic events that can drastically re-shape the local population connectivity of bats species (Calderón-Acevedo et al., 2021; Soto-Centeno & Calderón-Acevedo, 2023). Therefore, having updated local lists can provide a year-to-year comparison of local faunal abundance that can inform conservation strategies, and eventually strengthen the predictive power when modelling the effect climate change of species richness and abundance. We encourage more researchers to publish faunal and floral lists, even for common taxa, to better understand species diversity, abundance, and interactions for downstream research and conservation.
Data Availability Statement
All research here was observational and no data beyond what is presented in this manuscript is available.