The common Puerto Rican ameiva or Puerto Rican ground lizard (''Pholidoscelis exsul'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of lizard in the whiptail

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

."''Ameiva exsul'' "
The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. Ameiva exsul on leaf litter

Geographic range

''Ameiva exsul'' is found in coastal habitats of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

, the

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Isla Culebra Isla Culebra (, ''Snake Island'') is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico and geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. It is located approximately east of the Puerto Rican mainland, west of St. Thomas and north of Vieque ...

. The species is also found in the

Toro Negro State Forest Toro Negro State Forest (Spanish: ''Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro'') is one of the 21 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. It is also Puerto Rico's highest cloud forest. It is in the Cordillera Central region of the is ...

.''Bosques de Puerto Rico: Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro.''
Hojas de Nuestro Ambiente. July 2008. ublication/Issue: P-030Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Retrieved 10 September 2013.

Description

''Pholidoscelis exsul'' is a relatively large lizard; males can grow up to . The maximum recorded male snout-to-vent length (SVL) is , and the maximum recorded female SVL is . Color patterns vary widely among individuals, populations, and islands. Animals are predominantly colored gray, black, or brown, with large or small white dots along their backs. Dorsolateral stripes vary in number, length, and color. All individuals have a white or blue-white mottled stomach. The chin shield and throat patch are often light pink. Juveniles generally have a bright blue tail and more dots than stripes.

Biology

Puerto Rican ground lizards occur in habitat with open canopy structure and loose sandy soil in elevations between sea-level and where the temperature is above 24 °C (75 °F) year-round. Henderson RW, Powell R (2009). ''Natural History of West Indian Reptiles and Amphibians''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. 520 pp. . Ground lizards forage for insects and small fruits and scavenge for dead animals or trash scraps in urban areas.

Reproduction

Sexually mature females of ''P. exsul'' bury 2-7 pink eggs approximately below ground in loose soil in June–August. Juveniles may have a bright blue tail, like the closely related '' Pholidoscelis wetmorei'' (blue-tailed ground lizard), but they will lose the bright blue color in their tail with age. Individuals can live more than six years.

Threats

The principle threat to individuals of ''P. exsul'' is from other animals which eat ground lizards. Mammalian predators include

feral cats A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

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small Indian mongoose The small Indian mongoose (''Urva auropunctata'') is a mongoose species native to Iraq and northern South Asia; it has also been introduced to many regions of the world, such as several Caribbean and Pacific islands. Taxonomy ''Mangusta auropun ...

s. Avian predators include

American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius''), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of ...

Greater Antillean grackle The Greater Antillean grackle (''Quiscalus niger'') is a grackle found throughout the Greater Antilles as well as smaller, nearby islands. Like all ''Quiscalus'' grackles, it is a rather large, gregarious bird. It lives largely in heavily settle ...

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pearly-eyed thrasher The pearly-eyed thrasher (''Margarops fuscatus'') is a bird in the thrasher family Mimidae. It is found on many Caribbean islands, from the Bahamas in the north to the Grenadines in the south, with an isolated subspecies on Bonaire. Descriptio ...

References

* Boulenger GA (1896). "''Ueber einige Reptilien von der Insel Mona (Westindien)'' ". ''Jahresbericht und Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Magdeburg'' 1894-1896: 112-114. (''Ameiva alboguttata'', new species, pp. 112–113). (in German). * Cope ED (1862). "Synopsis of the Species of ''Holcosus'' and ''Ameiva'', with Diagnoses of new West Indian and South American Colubridæ". ''Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia'' 14: 60-82. (''Ameiva plei'' Var. ''exsul'', new variation, p. 66). * Heatwole H, Torres F (1967). "Distribution and Geographic Variation of the Ameivas of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands". ''Studies on the Fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands'' 24 (92): 63-111. (''Ameiva desechensis'', new species, pp. 95–96). * Schwartz A,

Thomas R Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

(1975). ''A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles''.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History The Carnegie Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as CMNH) is a natural history museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896. Housing some 22 millio ...