''Ameiva ameiva'', also known as the giant ameiva, green ameiva, South American ground lizard, or Amazon racerunner, is a species of lizard 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 famili ...

found in Central,

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, and some Caribbean Islands.

Geographic range

It is widespread in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and

, including: Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Surinam, French Guiana, Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and Paraguay. It is also found on the Caribbean islands of

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

, Grenada, the Grenadines, Barbados, Margarita, Swan Island, and Isla de la Providencia.''Ameiva ameiva''
Reptile-database.reptarium.cz It was also once present on Saint Vincent but has since been

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

Description

''Ameiva ameiva'' has a streamlined body, pointed head, slightly forked tongue, and muscular hind legs. They grow to approximately . Both sexes have random black specks and mottling along the sides. Females usually have much less green than males and a more dusty of a green color. Males have vibrant green coloration and more bold mottling. Males also have more expanded jowls. They are popular as a pet because of the male's striking green coloration.

Habitat

They live on the forest floor, often sheltering underneath logs and in leaf litter. Captive individuals have been observed making tunnels spanning out from under a log or rock when given enough soil.

Diet

Its diet consists of mainly

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

(such as grasshoppers, butterflies,

cockroach Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...

es,

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...

s, and insect larvae),

frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...

, other lizards (such as anoles), and

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

Reproduction

The female lays several

clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts) ...

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

from March to December.

Invasive species

This species has been introduced into the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with thriving populations in South Florida.

Parasites

This species is infected by a number of

protist A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the exc ...

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s including: *'' Acroeimeria pintoi'' *'' Choleoeimeria carinii'' *'' Plasmodium attenuatum'' *'' Plasmodium carmelinoi'' *'' Plasmodium cnemidophori'' *'' Plasmodium diminutivum'' *'' Plasmodium minasense'' *'' Plasmodium pifanoi'' *'' Plasmodium telfordi'' *'' Sarcocystis ameivamastigodryasi''

References

Bibliography

External links

* *
''Ameiva ameiva''
at the Reptile Database Ameiva Reptiles of the Caribbean Reptiles of Argentina Reptiles of Bolivia Reptiles of Brazil Reptiles of Colombia Reptiles of Ecuador Reptiles of French Guiana Reptiles of Guyana Reptiles of Peru Reptiles of Paraguay Reptiles of Suriname Reptiles of Venezuela Reptiles described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{lizard-stub