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Ameiva tobagana COPE, 1879

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Higher TaxaTeiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Antillean Ameiva
S: Antillen-Ameive 
SynonymAmiva [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 
DistributionGrenada, 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 
TypesSyntypes: MCZ 6088, 6089, ANSP 19595
Syntypes: ANSP 19595, MCZ 6088-89, CAS, NMW [aquilina]
Holotype: USNM 10113 [tobagana] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: 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]. 
CommentSynonymy: 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). 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. 
References
  • Barbour, T. 1916. Amphibians and reptiles of Tobago. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 29: 221-224 - get paper here
  • Barbour, T. and G. K. Noble. 1915. A revision of the lizards of the genus Ameiva. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 59: 417-479. - get paper here
  • Barbour, Thomas 1914. A Contribution to the Zoögeography of the West Indies, with Especial Reference to Amphibians and Reptiles. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy 44 (2): 205-359 - get paper here
  • Barbour, Thomas 1930. Some faunistic changes in the Lesser Antilles. Proc. New England Zool. Club 11: 73-85
  • Cavalcanti, Lucas B Q; Gabriel C Costa, Guarino R Colli, Eric R Pianka, Laurie J Vitt, Daniel O Mesquita 2023. Myrmecophagy in lizards: evolutionary and ecological implications. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023;, zlad175, - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1879. Eleventh contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 18: 261-277. - get paper here
  • Garman, S. 1887. On the West Indian Teiids in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Bull. Essex Inst. 19: 1-12. - get paper here
  • Krintler, K. 1982. Auf den Spuren von Robert Mertens auf Tobago. Herpetofauna 4 (16): 10-14 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1972. Herpetofauna tobagana. Stuttgarter Beitr. zur Naturkunde nr. 252 22 pp. - get paper here
  • Morato, Sérgio Augusto Abrahão; Guilherme Nunes Ferreira; Michela Rossane Cavilha Scupino (eds.) 2018. Herpetofauna da Amazônia Central: Estudos na FLONA de Saracá-Taquera. Curitiba, Pr: STCP Engenharia de Projetos Ltda.; Porto Trombetas, Pa: MRN – Mineração Rio do Norte S.A., 2018.<br>210p. - get paper here
  • Peters, James A. & Donoso-Barros, Roberto 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: Part II. Lizards and Amphisbaenians. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 297: 293 pp. - get paper here
  • Sajdak, Richard A.; Craig S. Berg, and Robert W. Henderson 2016. Thorny Situations: Reptiles on the Grenadines. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 23 (1): 34–39 - get paper here
  • Schwartz, A. and R. Thomas. 1975. A checklist of West Indian amphibians and reptiles. Carnegie Mus. Nat. Hist. Spec. Publ. 1:1-216. - get paper here
  • Thorpe, R.S. 2022. Reptiles of the Lesser Antilles. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 608 pp. - get paper here
  • Tuck, Robert G.;Hardy, Jerry David 1973. Status of the Ober Tabago collection, Smithsonian Institution, and the proper allocation of Ameiva surinamensis tobaganus Cope (Sauria: Teiidae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 86 (19): 231-242 - get paper here
 
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