Borderless Lizards: Unveiling Overlooked Records and the Runaway Invasion of Anolis sagrei in Ecuador
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Based on bibliographic records and data from GBIF and iNaturalist, we evaluated the global distribution of Anolis sagrei. This lizard, native to Cuba and the Bahamas, has now spread across mainland America, particularly in the Caribbean, Central America, and parts of the United States. It has also been introduced in Asia, and, according to some iNaturalist observations not covered in previous literature, it has been observed in Israel, Canada, and northern South America. The species is especially abundant in the Caribbean and southeastern United States, with high concentrations of records in these regions and parts of Mexico, indicating significant range expansion. In Ecuador, A. sagrei has been recorded both along the coast and in the Amazon, with notable occurrences in Esmeraldas, Manabí, Guayas, Francisco de Orellana, and, for the first time, in Zamora Chinchipe (southern Amazon), specifically in El Pangui. The capture of 10 individuals in this area (deposited at the Zoology Museum of Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja) confirmed typical A. sagrei morphology, with a scale pattern similar to populations in Honduras and Cuba but showing variations in scalation and body measurements. In Ecuador, the number of lamellae on the fourth toe ranges from 29-33, consistent with individuals from Honduras and Cuba but differing from those in Taiwan. Additionally, dorsal and ventral scale counts within the 5 mm range show variations (dorsal: 11-22 and ventral: 10-25), suggesting environmental adaptations or natural variability. Climate change favors its spread, enabling the colonization of new habitats through increased temperatures and altered precipitation patterns. As an invasive species, A. sagrei impacts local biodiversity by competing with native species and disrupting ecological balance. This study underscores the need for monitoring and control programs in Ecuador, particularly in the Amazon, to protect native biodiversity.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".