The body of this anole is longer and more slender than other grass Anoles. It has distinguishing brownish dorsum, greenish sides, blue eyes, a small white dewlap, a short pale lateral line, and a number of black spots behind the eyes. Males grow up to 44mm (1.7in) and females up to 40mm (1.6in).
Anolis poncensis diagram from Stejneger, L. "The herpetology of Porto Rico". Rept. United States Natl. Mus. 1902: pp. 666. (1904).
Distribution
This species is endemic to Puerto Rico. Its distribution is rather small, being limited to the arid and semi-arid western half of the southern coast of the island. It was identified and catalogued in 1902 by Leonhard Stejneger, a curator with the Division of Reptiles and Batrachians of the United States National Museum.
Etymology
Its species name, consisting of "ponce" plus the Latin suffix -nsis, was given in reference to the place of its discovery, the city of Ponce. Its discovery and documentation were originally published in Stejneger, 1904: "The herpetology of Porto Rico".
↑There are no hills east of Ponce; all hills near Ponce are either north or west of Ponce. As the map on page 619 of this following source (https://faculty.unlv.edu/jrodriguez/39.pdf [Living together but remaining apart: comparative phylogeography of Anolis poncensis and A. cooki, two lizards endemic to the aridlands of Puerto Rico]) shows, as well as the location descriptions ("El Tuque", etc.,) given there (example: p. 621), the habitat for this species is clearly in the hills --and drylands-- west (not east) of Ponce, and, as such, Stejneger 1904's documentation appears to be a typo, most likely due to human directional interpretation error.
"Amphibians and reptiles of Caribbean Islands". CaribHerp. Caribbean Herpetology. 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016. Map illustrating the distribution of Anolis poncensis within Puerto Rico
Brandley, M.C.; De Queiroz, K. (2004). "Phylogeny, ecomorphological evolution, and historical biogeography of the Anolis cristatellus series". Herpetological Monographs. 18: 90–126. doi:10.1655/0733-1347(2004)018[0090:PEEAHB]2.0.CO;2.
Grant, C. (1932). "Herpetological notes from the Puerto Rico area". Jour. Dept. Agric. Puerto Rico. 16 (1): 161–165.
Nicholson, Kirten E.; Brian I. Crother; Craig Guyer; Jay M. Savage (2012). "It is time for a new classification of anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae)". Zootaxa. 3477: 1–108. Bibcode:2012Zoot.34777.1.1N. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3477.1.1.
Poe, S. (2013). "1986 Redux: New genera of anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae) are unwarranted". Zootaxa. 3626 (2): 295–299. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3626.2.7. PMID26176139.
Rivero, J.A. (1978). Los anfibios y reptiles de Puerto Rico[The Amphibians and Reptiles of Puerto Rico] (in Spanish).
Schmidt, K.P. (1928). "Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands: Amphibians and land reptiles of Porto Rico, with a list of those reported from the Virgin Islands". New York Academy of Sciences. 10 (1).
Schwartz, A. and Henderson, R.W. (1985). A guide to the identification of the amphibians and reptiles of the West Indies exclusive of Hispaniola. Milwaukee Public Museum.
Schwartz, A. and Henderson, R.W. (1991). Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
Werning, H. (2012). "Zwischen Anolis und Cycluren: Unterwegs auf Puerto Rico". Reptilia (Münster) (in German). 17 (95): 100–109.