Green ameive
| Green ameive | ||||||||||||
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Male of the Green Ameive |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ameiva ameiva | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The green ameive ( Ameiva ameiva ) is a reptile from the family of the rail lizards (Teiidae).
features
Green Ameiven are large rail lizards that can reach a total length of up to 64 cm. The head-torso length of adult males ranges from 9 to 19.7 cm, that of the slightly smaller females from 8 to 15.7 cm. The tail is long and makes up 65 to 70% of the total length. Males have larger heads and larger limbs than females of the same length.
The body color varies in the area of distribution. The back and head are grass green, in males from Costa Rica and western Panama also blue-green to brown. In large adult males, the color of the front body changes to brown. The upper side of the head, neck and body is usually provided with black reticulated markings or dots, but in some specimens this markings are missing. If present, the drawing can extend into the green-colored part of the body, but is mostly limited to the brown part of the body. The color of the flanks ranges from brown and dark yellow to blue. The drawing of the males consists of lateral light spots, in the females there are light stripes next to the light spots along the body. The eye spots (ocelles) can merge into short transverse bands. They are creamy yellow, greenish or bluish, often with a dark border. The number of eye spots is lower in the females. The throat and chest are pale blue, mottled, or permeated with black pigment. The belly is white, cream, gray, blue, or orange. In some specimens, the sides of the legs facing the belly, the sides of the tail and the underside of the tail are colored pale turquoise. In young animals, a wide black or dark reddish-brown band runs from the region behind the eyes over the sides of the head and along the flanks. The iris is reddish brown in all stages of development.
The scales on the top of the head are smooth. Usually there is a single forehead scale. The parietal shields touch the parietal shields (interparietals). An area of enlarged posterior gular scales is usually noticeable, but is occasionally only moderately enlarged. The number of scales between the interparietal and tail base is between 259 and 339. There are 129 to 187 back scales across the middle of the body, the ventral scales (ventral scales) are in 29 to 32 transverse rows and 10 longitudinal rows.
distribution
The distribution area of the Green Ameive extends from Central American Costa Rica and Panama via Colombia and northern Venezuela southwards over a large part of South America to southern and southeastern Brazil , Paraguay and northern Argentina . In addition, the species occurs on Trinidad and Tobago , the southern Lesser Antilles and the Islas del Cisne , Islas san Andrés and Providencia . She was introduced to southern Florida (USA).
Habitat and way of life
In the entire distribution area, the green ameive occurs in open landscapes including grassland and savannah . Gorzula and Senaris (1999) report that the species lives in the Venezuelan Guiana in the lowlands below 400 m of forest edges, in the highlands from 400 to 1400 m of open savannah and scrubland. In Brazil, south of the Amazon , the green ameive occurs in thorn bush forest and open terrain, in southern Brazil also in sand dunes with isolated bushes.
Like other species of the genus Ameiva , the Green Ameive is ground-dwelling and sun-loving. She uses her forked tongue to track down the food. It feeds mainly on a wide variety of arthropods , a study in northeastern Brazil names insect larvae and pupae , snails, beetles, spiders, cockroaches and grasshoppers. The clutch consists of 1 to 9 eggs, whereby the clutch size depends on the body size. More than two clutches are created per year.
Taxonomy and subspecies
The Ameiva ameiva species complex has a complicated taxonomic history, a comprehensive systematic review is still pending . Depending on the author , many subspecies or a widespread, monotypical species are recognized on the basis of color, with or without further characteristics . Ugueto and Harvey (2011) describe the taxonomic history of Ameiva ameiva as chaotic and the status of the subspecies as unstable. Despite the conspicuous geographical color variations in the northern part of their range, most herpetologists followed Vanzolini (1986) over the past three decades, who considered the subspecies of Ameiva ameiva to be invalid and not biologically meaningful. Ameiva ameiva is mostly seen today as a widespread, morphologically and ecologically variable species.
According to The Reptile Database, two subspecies of the green ameive are recognized:
- Ameiva ameiva ameiva
- Ameiva ameiva tobagana ( Cope , 1879)
literature
- Harold G. Cogger , Richard G. Zweifel : Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-1559-0 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Raul Sales, Leonardo Ribeiro, Eliza Freire: Feeding ecology of Ameiva ameiva in a caatinga area of northeastern Brazil. 2011 in: Herpetological Journal 21 (3), pp. 199–207. ( Online )
- ↑ a b c d e G. N. Ugueto, MB Harvey: Revision of Ameiva ameiva Linnaeus (Squamata: Teiidae) in Venezuela: recognition of four species and status of introduced populations in southern Florida, USA. In: Herpetological Monographs 25, 2011, pp. 113-170. ( Online )
- ↑ a b c d e Jay M. Savage, Michael Fogden: The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica. University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0226735375 , pp. 508-510.
- ↑ a b Ameiva ameiva in The Reptile Database
- ↑ Daniel P. Quinn et al. : The Reptiles of Union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In: IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS 17, 2010 p. 230. ( Online )
- ^ William C. Hamlett: Reproductive Biology of South American Vertebrates. Springer, 1992, ISBN 978-3540977322 , pp. 137-140.
