Ameiva tobagana COPE, 1879
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Higher Taxa | Teiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Antillean Ameiva S: Antillen-Ameive |
Synonym | Amiva [sic] surinamensis tobaganus COPE 1879: 276 Ameiva surinamensis var. aquilina GARMAN 1887 Ameiva aquilina — BARBOUR 1914 Ameiva tobagana — BARBOUR & NOBLE 1915 Ameiva tobagana — BARBOUR 1916 Ameiva aquilina — BARBOUR 1930 Ameiva ameiva tobagana — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970: 20; misident.) Ameiva ameiva tobagana — MERTENS 1972 Ameiva ameiva tobagana — KRINTLER 1982 Ameiva aquilina — SAJDAK et al. 2016 Ameiva aquilina — HEDGES et al. 2019 |
Distribution | Grenada, St. Vincent Type locality: uncertain, given as Tobago, but apparently in error; Tuck and Hardy, 1973 showed that the holotype probably came from Grenada, the Grenadines, or St. Vincent. Type locality: St. George, Grenada, Kingston, St. Vincent, British Virgin Islands [aquilina] |
Reproduction | |
Types | Syntypes: MCZ 6088, 6089, ANSP 19595 Syntypes: ANSP 19595, MCZ 6088-89, CAS, NMW [aquilina] Holotype: USNM 10113 [tobagana] |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized Ameiva distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) maximum SVL in males 186 mm; (2) dorsal head scales smooth; (3) frontal single; (4) frontoparietal and parietal plates in contact with interparietals; (5) 17–47 (both sides) scales, usually in single row, between supraoculars and supraciliaries; (6) 10–18 occipitals, usually larger than first dorsal row; (7) 20–40 anterior gulars; (8) middle anterior gulars polygonal or rounded and usually small or moderately enlarged; (9) posterior gulars usually small, less often with medial patch of moderately enlarged posterior gulars; (10) 13–23 posterior gulars between antegular and gular fold; (11) enlarged mesop- tychial scales subequal or larger than largest gulars; (12) postbrachials moderately to dis- tinctly enlarged; (13) 263–361 scales between occiput and rump; (14) 134–179 dorsal scales across midbody; (15) ventrals in 29–34 trans- verse and 10 longitudinal rows; (16) adult male coloration in life uniformly brown in northeast- ern Venezuela, Isla de Margarita, and Trinidad or bicolored (anteriorly brown and posteriorly green) in north-central Venezuela, usually with minute black dorsal reticulations and pale blue or whitish lateral ocelli; (17) throat in adults black or dark gray; (18) no vertebral light stripe and only rarely ocelli present on dorsum; (19) juveniles often with faded dorsal paired black spots, indistinct pale dorsolateral line bordering upper margin of broad black lateral stripe distinct in front of arm; (20) associated with forests or forest clearings [UGUETO & HARVEY 2011]. |
Comment | Synonymy: Ameiva aquilina is a synonym of A. tobagana fide Schwartz & Thomas 1975, but some recent authors list A. aquilina as valid but if the synonymy is confirmed, tobagana has priority over aquilina. Diet: a large percentage of the diet of this species (10-30%) consists of ants (Lucas et al. 2023). |
Etymology | Named after the type locality. |
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