Reassessing a Holocene extinction: multiple lines of evidence do not support the historical presence and recent extirpation of a protected anole on the island of Anguilla

Accurate assessment of historical species ranges is important for conservation science and management. Inaccurate historical species ranges can lead to incorrect assumptions about local extinctions, population trends, and potential sites for reintroductions. Yet, historical knowledge is often lacking for many species. Here, we present body size data on the case of the bearded anole, Anolis pogus, which is long believed to have been recently extirpated from the island of Anguilla. Body size data consists of snout-vent length for adult male and female Anolis pogus, A. schwartzi, and A. gingivinus. These data were generated from a mix of field measurements and samples from natural history collections. We then compared these data with the size distributions of anole fossils found on the island of Anguilla. We show that rather than a two-species community, the fossil size data better corresponds to sexual dimorphism in a single-species community consisting only of A. gingivinus. Thus, f..., , # Reassessing a Holocene extinction: multiple lines of evidence do not support the historical presence and recent extirpation of a protected anole on the island of Anguilla

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.44j0zpcs5](10.5061/dryad.44j0zpcs5)

## Description of the data and file structure

We have submitted data for body sizes of field-collected and museum specimens from three species of anoles: *A. pogus*, *A. schwartzi*, and *A. gingivinus*. This dataset is used in our analyses comparing known fossil size distributions on Anguilla to potential species. Anole fossils cannot be identified to species, only genus. This work is described in our manuscript \"Reassessing a Holocene extinction: multiple lines of evidence do not support the historical presence and recent extirpation of a protected anole on the island of Anguilla\". In addition to the body size data, we also provide a script for assembling whole mitochondrial genomes from historical museum samples. We sequenced formalin-fixed livers f...,