Anolis nebulosusWiegmann, 1834

Clouded Anole

Identification not confirmed. One observer recorded this animal as this species and no one has since agreed, so the photograph may show a different animal.

Photograph placed in the public domain, CC0, via iNaturalist

A day-active, meat-eating lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 61 mm snout to vent.

Once published as Anolis schmidti, Norops nebulosus — those names reach this page.

Reptilia › Squamata › Anolidae › Anolis

Grows to: 61mm; greatest recorded
Eats: Carnivorous
Active: Diurnal
Lives up to: 3years

Body length across Anolidae

Longer than only 46% of all species in Anolidae anyone has measured.

46% of 423 species are smaller54% larger

33.5 mmthe whole family, smallest to largest191 mm

The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 33.5 to 191 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.

What is known

43 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.

Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.

Standing in the world

Still living: Extant
Conservation status: Least Concern
Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked: 2007
Population trend: Stable

The animal itself

Limbs: Four legs
Venomous: No
Fangs: None
Longest recorded life: 3years
Body temperature when active · measured in the wild: 32°C90 °F
Body temp in the wild · mean, when active: 29.7–34.3°C85–94 °F

Size

Length snout to vent · greatest recorded: 61mm2.5 in
Length snout to vent · adult female mean: 40.8mm1.5 in
Largest female · snout to vent: 40.8mm1.5 in
Hatchling length · snout to vent: 18.5mm0.7 in
Largest juvenile · snout to vent: 18mm0.7 in
Body mass · greatestcomputed: 4.77g0.17 oz

How it lives

Diet: Carnivorous
How it hunts: Mixed
Active: Diurnal
Where it lives: Arboreal, terrestrial
Habitat: Forest
Biome: Tropical & Subtropical Coniferous Forests
Active season · months of the year: 11–12months
Region: Neotropic
Mainland or island: Mainland
Highest it lives · above sea level: 2600m
Range size: 575,808km²
Density · lowest recorded: 250per hectare
Home range · largest recorded: 2m2

Breeding

Reproduction: Oviparous
Sex decided by: Genes, XX/XY
Average clutch: 1eggs
Eggs or young per clutch: 1eggs
Mean clutch: 1eggs
Clutches a year: 12–18per year
First breeds at: 9months

Naming and history

Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Pleurodonta
Subspecies: No
Described by: Wiegmann
Moved to another genus · since it was first described: Yes
Described in: 1834
Type locality: Mexico

Keeping one

9.5 in × 9.5 in × 9.5 in(24 × 24 × 24 cm)

Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.

The standard sizes ground species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 and climbing species at 4 × 2.5 × 4 times snout-vent length.

Recorded both on the ground and climbing, so this is the larger of the two rules in every dimension.

Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.

From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 2.5 in (61 mm), at 4 × 4 × 4 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.

Active animals measured in the wild averaged 90 °F (32 °C).

Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.

Feeding

A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.

Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.

1kJ per day

Worked out for an animal of 5 g, the heaviest recorded for Clouded Anole — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.

An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.

What nobody knows

These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.

— Length snout to vent · adult male mean
— Length snout to vent · adult mean
— Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
— Female length · mean, nose to tail
— Length nose to tail · adult male mean
— Length nose to tail · adult mean
— Largest male · snout to vent
— Largest female · shell length
— Largest male · shell length
— Hatchling length · nose to tail
— Largest juvenile · shell length
— Egg length
— Egg width
— Body mass · a typical adult
— Body mass · adult female, mean
— Body mass at hatching
— Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
— Eats arthropods
— Eats vertebrates
— Eats plant matter
— How the young develop
— Gestation or incubation
— Clutches in a year
— Hatchling length · smallest recorded
— Hatchling length · largest recorded
— Age at first breeding · female
— Mature from · youngest recorded
— Mature by · oldest recorded
— Size at maturity · smallest recorded
— Size at maturity · largest recorded
— Colour on the back
— Pattern on the back
— Pupil
— Red List criteria
— Density · highest recorded
— Active in
— Lowest it lives · above sea level

Others in Anolidae

Take this data

Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.

This species as JSON · the whole dataset

Cite this page

The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Anolis nebulosus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/anolis-nebulosus

@misc{anolis_nebulosus_2026,
  title  = {Anolis nebulosus},
  author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/anolis-nebulosus}
}

Sources

Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.