This group is composed of mid-sized trunk-crown anoles with large, conspicuously elongated heads and extreme levels of sexual dimorphism.

Other members of this thirteen-species clade include A. brunneus & A. smaragdinus from the Bahamas, A. longiceps from Navassa Island, A. maynardii from the Cayman Islands, and A. allisoni & A. porcatus from Cuba; A. carolinensis is the only member of this clade native to the American mainland.

Genetic analysis indicates that A. carolinensis originates from an oceanic dispersal event of an ancestral green anole from Cuba to the southern United States during the late Miocene or Pliocene.

Green anoles are thought to be capable of seeing a larger range of the UV spectrum, and that the dewlap reflects ultraviolet light to attract mates.

Females and juveniles have a prominent white stripe running along their spine, a feature most males lack.

[6][10][11][12] Colour varies from brown to green and can be changed like many other kinds of lizards, but anoles are closely related to iguanas[13] and are not true chameleons.

When stressed—while fighting, for example—the skin just behind the lizard's eyes may turn black independently from the rest of the animal's coloration, forming "postocular spots".

Anoles are the most abundant on the Atlantic Coastal Plains in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and on the Gulf Coast in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, where they extend inland as far as Texas Hill Country and the DFW Metroplex; they have also been recorded in Tamaulipas, Mexico, but it is mostly likely an introduction.

In 2005 they were recognized and listed as an invasive alien species in the Ogasawara Islands of Japan for causing insect population collapse.

[22] A. carolinensis is arboreal in nature but may be seen on the ground and frequently seen on shrubs in the low country of the Carolinas.

However, it can live in cities like Atlanta with little trouble so long as there is plentiful vegetation and bugs to eat.

One can observe them on steps, trellises, and railings adjacent to foliage; on particularly hot summer days they may seek to cool off on indoor walls or on wrap around porches of older buildings, and in the former case can simply be captured in a shoebox and gently placed outdoors.

It is common on roadsides, the edges of forests where there are shrubs and vines, but also construction sites having abundant foliage and sunlight.

When A. sagrei first appeared in the United States in the early 1900s,[24] the Carolina anole mostly ceded ground-level territories and were relegated to a very different ecosystem high in the treetops.

[25] It remains uncertain as to how this admixture of invasive alleles to the Carolina anole will affect the conservation of the species going forward.

[26] On sighting another male, the anole will compress his body, extend the dewlap, inflate a dorsal ridge, bob his head and attempt to chase the rival away.

[7] Serious injury is rare, but males often carry numerous scars on their heads and faces, especially during the mating season.

[6][14] Although anoles have been observed preying upon smaller reptiles such as juvenile skinks, this is not thought to be typical behavior.

[6] Many people who keep these lizards as pets feed them mealworms, grubs, maggots, and small crickets.

Major predators include the broadhead skink, snakes, birds, and in urban habitats, cats.

[6] The new tail, however, containing cartilage rather than bone, will typically not grow back to the same length as the first one, and may exhibit a marked difference in color and texture from the rest of the animal.

[31] The typical breeding season for Carolina anoles starts as early as April and ends in late September, gonadal activity being largely regulated by photoperiod, enlarging in spring as the weather warms up and days lengthen, and then regressing in late summer.

Usually, when the female is ready to mate, she may let the male catch her, at which point he will grasp her by biting a fold of her skin behind her neck.

She then buries the soft-shelled eggs in a shallow depression in soft soil, leaf litter, compost, rotting wood, or even a hole in a nearby tree.

[6] The eggs are left to incubate by the heat of the sun, and if successful, will hatch in about five to seven weeks (30–45 days) from late May to early October.

The young hatchlings must be wary of other adult anoles in the area, as well as larger reptiles and mammals, which could eat them.

An adequately sized enclosure, as well as the appropriate plants and substrate material, are beneficial to the health of captive Carolina anoles.

Development of a sexually dimorphic neuromuscular system involved in green anole courtship behavior.