Ameiva ameiva
(Linnaeus, 1758)
AH-MEE-vah — uh-MAY-vuh
SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
Native to Brazil north to Venezuela and the Lesser Antilles. It was introduced via the pet trade in 1954 and is established in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida (Neil, 1957, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 2: 175–220; Duellman and Schwartz, 1958, Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 3: 181–324; King and Krakauer, 1966, Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences 29: 144–154; Crowder, 1974, The exotic vertebrates of south Florida. South Florida Environmental Project Ecological Report No. DI–SFEP–74–30. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Pb-235 214, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 45pp). It has since been found in Broward, Collier, and Monroe counties (Krysko, 2019, Ameiva ameiva ameiva. Pages 425–426 in Krysko et al. (Editors) Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida). Earlier confusion about the taxonomy of these lizards (Wilson and Porras, 1983, The Ecological Impact of Man on the South Florida Herpetofauna. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Special Publication 9: i–vi + 1–89) has been resolved by Ugueto and Harvey (2011, Herpetological Monographs. 25: 113–170). The English name Neotropical Ameiva is used by Hedges et al. (2019, Caribbean Herpetology (67): 1–53).
(Krysko, Kenneth and Travis W. Taggart. 2025. Established Exotic Species. Pages 64-87 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)
Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2025.03.29.21.45.40)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.16 MB
Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida
Taxonomic Etymology:
Named tautonymically.
Ameiva — An indigenous (possibly Tupi or Cariban) word of uncertain origin used by early South American natives for similar lizards. Adopted by Linnaeus in his classification.
ameiva — A tautonym (repetition of the genus name), typical of type species under older zoological naming conventions.
First instance(s) of published English names:
Neotropical Ameiva (Ameiva ameiva: Hedges, S. Blair, Robert Powell, Robert W. Henderson, Sarah Hanson, and John C. Murphy. 2019. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist
and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and
reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology (67):1–53); Giant Ameiva (Ameiva ameiva: Pommer-Barbosa, Raul A., Alisson M. Albino, Jessica F.T. Reis, and Saara N. Fialho. 2021. Predation on Ameiva ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) by
Ardea alba (Pelecaniformes: Ardeidae) in the southwestern
Brazilian Amazon. Herpetology Notes 14():1073-1075); Amazon Racerunner (Ameiva ameiva: Pommer-Barbosa, Raul A., Alisson M. Albino, Jessica F.T. Reis, and Saara N. Fialho. 2021. Predation on Ameiva ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) by
Ardea alba (Pelecaniformes: Ardeidae) in the southwestern
Brazilian Amazon. Herpetology Notes 14():1073-1075);
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
The Reptile Database
GenBank
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Selected References:
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1758
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Linné, Carl von (=Linneaus). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. [System of Nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera, species with characters, differences, synonyms, places.] 10th Edition, Volume 1, L. Salvius, Stockholm. iv + 826pp.
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2019
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Hedges, S. Blair, Robert Powell, Robert W. Henderson, Sarah Hanson, and John C. Murphy. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist
and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and
reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology (67):1–53
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