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Holcosus quadrilineatus (HALLOWELL, 1861)

IUCN Red List - Holcosus quadrilineatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaTeiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Four-lined Ameiva 
SynonymCnemidophorus quadrilineatus HALLOWELL 1861: 483
Ameiva quadrilineata — COPE 1862: 61
Amiva [sic] gabbiana COPE 1876: 117
Ameiva gabbiana — GÜNTHER 1885: 24
Ameiva quadrilineata — DUNN 1940: 113
Ameiva quadrilineata — SLEVIN 1942: 467
Ameiva quadrilineata — PETERS et al. 1970: 23
Ameiva quadrilineata — ECHTERNACHT 1971: 34
Ameiva quadrilineata — KÖHLER 2000: 97
Ameiva quadrilineata — SANTOS-BARRERA et al. 2008
Holcosus quadrilineatus — HARVEY et al. 2012
Holcosus quadrilineatus — SUNYER & MARTÍNEZ-FONSECA 2023 
DistributionW Panama, Costa Rica, SE Nicaragua

Type locality: Nicaragua; restricted to Greytown, Nicaragua, by TAYLOR (1956).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 6053
Syntype: USNM 32614, 32615, 32616 [Amiva gabbiana] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A small lizard which an be distinguished from other Middle merican Ameiva by the following comination of characters: Central gular scales moderately enlarged, irregular, scales of posterior one-half of gular region abruptly smaller than scales of anterior one-half (Figs. 14-15); moderate number of femoral pores (mean number for males, 34.2; females, 27.8); a transverse row of abruptly enlarged mesoptychial scales; eight longitudinal rows of ventral scutes; narrow middorsal field (mean paravertebral granules, PV = 26.1) which does not become darker laterally; continuous, well defined dorsolateral stripe and continuous to interrupted ventrolateral stripe, both usually retained throughout life. The middorsal field of Ameiva undiilata is broad (mean PV: males, 46.8; females, 45.6) and the ventrolateral light stripe is usually interrupted. Ameiva chaitzami also has a relatively broad middorsal field (mean PV: 38.1) and interrupted ventrolateral light stripes and, in addition, lacks a uniformly colored middorsal field (Echternacht 1971: 35).


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CommentSynonymy that of PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970

Sympatry: Ameiva (= Holcosus) festiva 
EtymologyApparently named after the four bright lines on the back of this species, from Latin “quadri-” = four, and linea = line. 
References
  • Arias, Erick; Federico Bolaños 2014. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of San Isidro de Dota, Reserva Forestal Los Santos, Costa Rica. Check List 10 (4): 870-877 - get paper here
  • CAMPER, BENJAMIN T. & JENNIFER N. SCHLAUCH. 2022. HOLCOSUS QUADRILINEATUS (Four-lined Whiptail). DIET. Herpetological Review 53 (3): 498–499.
  • Cooper Jr., W.E. 2005. Duration of movement as a lizard foraging movement variable. Herpetologica 61 (4): 363-372 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1862. Synopsis of the species of Holcosus and Ameiva, with diagnoses of new West Indian and South American Colubridae. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 14: 60-82. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1875. On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica with notes on the herpetology and ichthyology of Nicaragua and Peru. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia N.S. (2) 8: 93-183 [sometimes said to be published 1876 but see Murphy et al. 2007 for clarification]] - get paper here
  • Dunn,E.R. 1940. New and noteworthy herpetological material from Panamá. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. 92: 105-122. - get paper here
  • Echternacht, A. C. 1971. Middle American lizards of the genus Ameiva. Misc. Publ. Univ. Kans. Mus. Nat. Hist. 55: 1-86 - get paper here
  • Eisenberg, T. 2000. Herpetologische Reiseeindrücke aus Costa Rica. Reptilia (Münster) 5 (23): 40-45 - get paper here
  • Fitch, Henry S. 1973. Population structure and survivorship in some Costa Rican lizards. Occ. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas 18: 1-41 - get paper here
  • Flores, Enrique Flores, Vayron De Gracia, Samuel Rodriguez and Genaro Pinilla. 2016. Geographic Distribution: Holcosus quadrilineatus (Four-lined Ameiva). Herpetological Review 47 (2): 258 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. C. L. G. 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - get paper here
  • Hallowell, E. 1861. Report upon the Reptilia of the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, under command of Capt. John Rogers, U. S. N. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 12 [1860]: 480 - 510 - get paper here
  • HARVEY, MICHAEL B.; GABRIEL N. UGUETO & RONALD L. GUTBERLET, Jr. 2012. Review of Teiid Morphology with a Revised Taxonomy and Phylogeny of the Teiidae (Lepidosauria: Squamata). Zootaxa 3459: 1–156 - get paper here
  • Hilje B, Chaves G, Klank J, Timmerman F, Feltham J, Gillingwater S, Piraino T, Rojas E 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Tirimbina Biological Reserve: a baseline for conservation, research and environmental education in a lowland tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1633-1655 - get paper here
  • Hirth, H.F. 1963. The ecology of two lizards on a tropical beach. Ecological Monographs 33: 83-112
  • Köhler, G. 2000. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd 1: Krokodile, Schildkröten, Echsen. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 158 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Mendenhall, Chase D.; Luke O. Frishkoff, Georgina Santos-Barrera, Jesús Pacheco, Eyobed Mesfun, Fernando Mendoza Quijano, Paul R. Ehrlich, Gerardo Ceballos, Gretchen C. Daily, and Robert M. Pringle 2014. Countryside biogeography of Neotropical reptiles and amphibians. Ecology 95: 856–870 - get paper here
  • MURPHY R. W., SMITH A. and NGO A. 2007. The versions of Cope's Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 7 (1): - get paper here
  • Quinones, Brittany; Zachary Patton, Jessica Murgatroyd, Sara Hamilton, Sarah Moses, Adriel Herrera, Elvis Hernandez, Christian Alessandro Perez, Andres Vega, Gad Perry, and Kerry L. Griffis-Kyle 2019. The adventure of a lifetime: Getting friendly with Costa Rican herps. IRCF 26 (1): 85–97 - get paper here
  • Santos-Barrera, Georgina; Jesus Pacheco, Fernando Mendoza-Quijano, Federico Bolaños,<br />Gerardo Cháves , Gretchen C. Daily, Paul R. Ehrlich & Gerardo Ceballos 2008. Diversity, natural history and conservation of amphibians and reptiles from the San Vito Region, southwestern Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 56 (2): 755-778 - get paper here
  • Sasa, M., Arias, E., & Chaves, G. 2025. Annotated list of amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica: The role of the Museum of Zoology in cataloging the country’s herpetological diversity. Revista de Biología Tropical, 73(S2): e64536-e64536 - get paper here
  • Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, 934 pp. [review in Copeia 2003 (1): 205]
  • Sebastián-González, Esther & Ramón Gómez 2012. Habitat selection of two sympatric species of Ameiva in East Costa Rica. Acta Herpetologica 7 (2): 347-353 - get paper here
  • Slevin, J.R. 1942. Notes on a collection of reptiles from Boquete, Panama, with the description of a new species of Hydromorphus. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 23: 463-480 - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier 2014. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 186–202. - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier & José́ Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca 2023. An updated country checklist to the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. REVISTA NICARAGÜENSE DE BIODIVERSIDAD (100): 1-25 - get paper here
  • Taylor, E. H. 1956. A review of the lizards of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (part 1): 3-322 - get paper here
  • Wirth, Michael 2011. Costa Rica – ein herpetologisches Paradies!. Draco 12 (45): 4-21 - get paper here
 
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