A new paper on enemy release in slender anoles was just published in Biology Letters! The factors that enable non-native species to become invasive are still debated by scientists. It is possible that non-native species undergo “enemy release”, losing their parasites during invasion, yet experimental tests of this phenomenon are rare. We mimicked invasions by experimentally translocating mite-parasitized anole lizards to several islands in the Panama Canal. Mites rapidly went extinct on islands without native anoles but were retained on an island with a resident species, suggesting that the native species functioned as an “enemy reservoir” that facilitated parasite survival. Our work suggests that more diverse native communities could be resistant to invasion. Check out the link to read the paper: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0474