Expanded Geographic Distribution of Multisystemic Enterococcosis Caused by Enterococcus lacertideformus in the Invasive Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei) in Florida

Shivam Shukla^1,*, Ainsley Basham¹,Ali Mulla¹,J. Sean Doody¹, and Robert J. Ossiboff²

¹Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Campus, 140 7th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. ²Department of Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 23, Issue 4 (2024): N75–N81

First published early online: 4 December 2024

Abstract
Multisystemic enterococcosis, caused by the bacterium Enterococcus lacertideformus, is a potentially fatal infection affecting multiple lizard species. Initially described on Christmas Island in 2014, E. lacertideformus has since infected Anolis sagrei (Brown Anole) populations in Pinellas County, FL. In 2023, we found a Brown Anole exhibiting clinical signs consistent with multisystemic enterococcosis. Molecular and histopathological analyses confirmed the presence of E. lacertideformus infection. Thus, we report the first documented case of multisystemic enterococcosis in Hillsborough County, FL, a previously undocumented locale for this pathogen. This range expansion underscores the potential risk E. lacertideformus poses to Florida’s lizard populations, highlighting the necessity for increased surveillance and further research to better understand the transmission dynamics and ecological impacts of this emerging pathogen.

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