Two later researchers have instead promoted the "ecotypes" concept, hypothesizing the color forms are maintained by the ecological conditions of the surrounding environment, despite being genetically indistinguishable.

The morphology of some traits is subject to clinal variation, gradually changing from one side of the island to the other, or from sea level to the hilltops.

Although presently widespread and common on Dominica, in 2007 some authors opined that it may face competition from A. cristatellus, an anole from Puerto Rico, which was introduced a few years earlier.

According to Malhotra and Thorpe the American paleontologist and herpetologist Edward Drinker Cope gave a cursory description of Anolis alliaceus in 1864, which now seen as a synonym of the species A. marmoratus from another island, on the basis of sixteen specimens at the British Museum that lacked locality data.

[6] From this, he concluded that it was a single species, and accounted for its variation by classifying the spectrum of different color forms as four subspecies organised by region: A. o. oculatus, found along the southwestern coastal area, with a holotype from the capital of Roseau (most closely corresponding to the original type described by Cope[who?

[8] Lazell returned to Dominica in 1966 to collect new specimens, and in 1972 supplemented his original descriptions, including color illustrations of sexual dimorphism among the types.

[9] Lazell noted that the subspecies he described corresponded with the "strikingly different" ecological zones on Dominica, which result from the elevations on the small island interacting with prevailing winds to produce varying rainfall and vegetation.

This manifests in different populations as small, evenly distributed spots; scattered groups of white scales; or streaks that run together in a marbled appearance.

The same patterns are also seen in the highly variable A. marmoratus on Guadeloupe, a neighboring island group that has a range of habitats comparable to Dominica.

[20] They have small, bluish-white secondary spots, and occasional lateral, black-ringed splotches on males like those found in the north Caribbean ecotype.

It is intermediate in size, and has a typically orange to chocolate brown ground color, with small, scattered white spots, like the montane type.

[23] It is present in all habitats and areas of the island up to around 900 m elevation and is generally abundant, though it is tending towards extirpation from the southwestern coastal region due to an invasive anole species (see Conservation).

[28] In xeric woodland habitats on Dominica's Caribbean coast, it mainly feeds on tiny ants, termites, springtails and barklice.

[33] Research has shown gene flow within the species to be determined by male migration, which suggests that females do not have significant mate choice preferences.

An invading male may cause a confrontation, during which they will circle at close quarters, inflating their bodies and gaping their mouths to appear larger and menacing.

[39] At night, the Dominican anole climbs to the tips of branches and sleeps clinging to leaves, where heavier nocturnal predators cannot reach them.

as belonging to the Guadeloupean-Dominican clade, which includes A. marmoratus on the Guadeloupe Archipelago, A. lividus on Montserrat, A. nubilus on Redonda, and A. sabanus on Saba.

[58] This gene flow appears to be dominated by male migration, and occurs at such high levels as to likely prevent evolutionary divergence of different populations.

[60] This variation is thought to primarily be the result of strong pressures from natural selection caused by differences in habitat, with phenotypic plasticity a possible, though less important, contributing factor.

[63] This separation may be the result of a volcanic event within the last 50,000 years, as the transition zone is marked by relatively recent lava flows.

[64] The Dominican anole is threatened by an introduced competitor, Anolis cristatellus, which established itself in Dominica between 1997 and 2002, and as of 2007 had begun to supplant it in the southwestern coastal area surrounding the capital, Roseau.

[66] Because that is almost the entire range of the southern ecotype, some authors recommended a captive breeding program to preserve this color form.

[67] These authors furthermore fear that the Dominican anole may eventually face extirpation from much of Dominica, except for specific environments that A. cristatellus tends not to prefer, such as forests or mountainous areas.