The common ameiva (''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus'') is a species of lizard

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

and a number of smaller associated islands. It is known to engage in homosexual mating among males.

Taxonomy

The common ameiva was originally described by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested ...

in 1868, as ''Ameiva chrysolaema''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

likely comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, meaning gold, and , meaning neck or throat, for the yellow throat and belly of this species. In 2016, the species was moved to ''

Pholidoscelis Pholidoscelis is a genus of lizards that belongs to the family Teiidae. All species are endemic to the West Indies. Classification Listed alphabetically.genetic sequencing Genetic Sequencing may refer to: * DNA sequencing * Whole genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entiret ...

and

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses.

Subspecies

There are sixteen accepted

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

in The Reptile Database. Given the variation among the subspecies, some authors suggest that they probably comprise more than one species. * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus chrysolaemus'' (Cope 1868) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus abbotti'' (Noble 1923) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus alacri'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus boekeri'' (Mertens 1939) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus defensor'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus evulsus'' (Schwartz 1973) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus fictus'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus jactus'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus parvoris'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus procax'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus quadrijugis'' (Schwartz 1968) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus regularis'' (Fischer 1888) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus richardthomasi'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus secessus'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus umbratilis'' (Schwartz & Klinikowski 1966) * ''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus woodi'' (Cochran 1934)

Conservation

The common ameiva is considered a species of least concern by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

due to its broad

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

and adaptable nature to modified environments and impacts, such as habitat destruction and urban development. Some subpopulations, such as in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, appear to be in decline due to the loss of backyards and predation by

cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

References

External links

''Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus''
at the

Encyclopedia of Life The ''Encyclopedia of Life'' (''EOL'') is a free, online encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing trusted databases curated by experts and with the assistance of non ...

Pholidoscelis Reptiles of the Dominican Republic Reptiles of Haiti Endemic fauna of Hispaniola Lizards of the Caribbean Reptiles described in 1868 Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope {{Lizard-stub