A two-year conservation project studying Bermuda’s anoles has uncovered a new species as well as lifting the lid on how the lizard population has expanded across the Island.

The initiative was led by Florida International University’s James Stroud and Sean Giery from North Carolina State University.

The two research scientists worked alongside the Department of Conservation’s wildlife ecologist, Mark Outerbridge, to record the distribution of the three species of anoles in Bermuda.

The team’s work led to the discovery of a new species of anole, the Cuban brown anole, as well as providing groundbreaking data of how the other species’ populations had spread.

“We embarked on this project in an attempt to record the current distributions of all Anolis lizards and recorded range expansions that may have occurred,” Mr Stroud said.

“This type of project has only previously been achieved twice; once in 1960, by the famous David Wingate, and then once again in 1991 by Jonathan Losos from Harvard University.

“There are three established anoles on Bermuda: the Jamaican anole, the Antiguan or Warwick anole and the Barbadian or Somerset anole.”

In August 2014 and 2015 the trio surveyed the whole of Bermuda, including several accessible outlying islands, to record total-island distributions of all anole species.

At each of the 114 survey sites the team of conservationists conducted counts of each species and recorded data to determine habitat use.

Mr Stroud said: “Our results showed that the Jamaican anole continues to be found all around the Island, as was observed in 1991.

“However, since 1991 the Warwick lizard has observed a large-range expansion into the distribution of the Somerset lizard.

“Conversely, the Somerset lizard has not been able to reciprocally spread into the range of the Warwick lizard.”

The discovery of the Cuban brown anole could pose difficulties for the endangered Bermuda skink, according to the research scientists.

Mr Stroud said: “During this project we also discovered two populations of a new species of anole on Bermuda; the Cuban brown anole.

“This species, originating from Cuba and the Bahamas, is one of the most widespread anoles outside of its native range, with large populations present throughout Florida and as far away as Hawaii and Singapore.

“Unlike the previous anoles found on Bermuda, which are often found on trees and branches, this species lives much more on the ground.

“This means that if it spreads into an area where the critically endangered Bermudian skink is present then they may compete for food and habitat.”