Ameiva praesignis (BAIRD & GIRARD, 1852)
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Ameiva praesignis
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| Higher Taxa | Teiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Giant Ameiva, Amazon Racerunner |
| Synonym | Cnemidophorus praesignis BAIRD & GIRARD 1852: 129 Ameiva praesignis — COPE 1862: 67 Ameiva praesigna — BOCOURT 1874: 265 (unjustified emendation) Amiva praesignis — COPE 1875: 157 Cnemidophorus maculatus FISCHER 1878: 95 (dated 1879) Ameiva surinamensis — BOULENGER (1885: 22; in part). Ameiva ameiva maculata —BARBOUR & NOBLE (1915: 467) Ameiva ameiva praesignis — BARBOUR & NOBLE (1915: 468) Ameiva ameiva praesignis — BURT & BURT 1931: 305; in part) Ameiva ameiva praesignis — MARCUZZI (1950: 102) Ameiva ameiva praesignis — TEST et al. (1966: 19) Ameiva ameiva praesignis — DONOSO-BARROS (1968: 115) Ameiva ameiva praesignis — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS (1970: 20). Ameiva ameiva vogli MÜLLER 1929: 100 Ameiva ameiva ornata MÜLLER & HELLMICH 1940: 1790). Ameiva ameiva ornata — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970: 19 Ameiva ameiva fischeri PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS (1970: 19; nom. subst.). Ameiva ameiva — ECHTERNACHT 1971: 14 Ameiva ameiva praesignis — KLUGE 1984: 21 Ameiva praesignis — UGUETO & HARVEY 2011 |
| Distribution | SW Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela (Trujillo etc. [Esqueda & La Marca 1999]), Colombia (Santa Marta) USA (introduced to Florida) Type locality: Chagres, Panama. Type locality: Sabana Larga, Colombia [maculatus] Type locality: Barinas, Zamora, Venezuela [vogli] Type locality: La Puerta, Fusagasugá, Colombia, 1200 m [ornata] |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Syntypes: USNM 5519, UMMZ 3823 Holotype: ZMH (Zoologisches Museum of Hamburg) [maculatus] Holotype: ZSM 1/1929, apparently lost during WWII, fide Franzen and Glaw, 2007 [vogli] Holotype: ZSM 118/1937; not mentioned in Franzen and Glaw, 2007 [ornata] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized Ameiva dis- tinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) maximum SVL in males 243 mm; (2) smooth dorsal head scales; (3) frontal single; (4) frontoparietal and parietal plates in contact with interparietals; (5) 15–36 (both sides) scales, usually in a single row, between supraoculars and supraciliaries; (6) 12–21 occipitals, usually subequal to first dorsal row; (7) 22–40 anterior gulars; (8) middle anterior gulars polygonal or round- ed and usually moderately enlarged, less often small, and rarely distinctly enlarged; (9) patch of moderately enlarged posterior gulars pre- sent, or all posterior gulars small, rarely posterior gulars in a distinctly enlarged patch; (10) 22–40 posterior gular scales between antegular and gular folds; (11) enlarged me- soptychial scales subequal or larger than largest gulars; (12) postbrachials moderately to dis- tinctly enlarged; (13) 237–348 scales between occipitals and base of tail; (14) 111–157 dorsal scales across midbody; (15) ventrals in 29–34 transverse rows, and 10 longitudinal rows; (16) adult male coloration in life gray, bluish gray or gray–brown, each scale often with black pigments, with pale lateral ocelli; (17) throat in adults cream colored or blue; (18) a distinct whitish or yellow vertebral light stripe often present or ocelli present across dorsum; (19) juveniles with paired black spots and with indistinct pale dorsolateral line bordering upper margin of broad black lateral stripe, vertebral pale stripe or spots often on dorsum; (20) associated with open localities, dry forests, and savannahs. Additional details (46 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy after UGUETO & HARVEY 2011. Ameiva ameiva fischeri PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS (1970: 19) is a replacement name for Cnemidophorus maculatus Fischer because the name A. maculata Gray [1838] was already in existence and a synonym of A. a. ameiva. Diet: a large percentage of the diet of this species (10-30%) consists of ants (Lucas et al. 2023). |
| Etymology | Named after Latin praesignis, pre-eminent, distinguished. [?]. (from Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., May 2024) |
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