The Martinique giant ameiva (''Pholidoscelis major'') was a species of

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

in the family

Teiidae Teiidae is a family of autarchoglossan lizards native to the Americas. Members of this family are generally known as whiptails or racerunners; however, tegus also belong to this family. Teiidae is sister to the Gymnopthalmidae, and both families ...

. It is believed to have been

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 ...

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, though at least one scholar disputes this, instead placing it on Les Iles de la Petite Terre within the

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

an archipelago., attributing this view to Breuil, 2002. It is known only from museum specimens collected by early European explorers. Its extinction may have been caused by a hurricane, or through the introduction of predatory species to the island.

References

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External links

Pholidoscelis major
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 major
at the Reptile Database Pholidoscelis Reptile extinctions since 1500 Extinct reptiles Reptiles described in 1839 Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{lizard-stub