The common Puerto Rican ameiva, Puerto Rican ground lizard, or siguana común (Pholidoscelis exsul) is a species of lizard in the whiptail family."Ameiva exsul ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
Geographic range Ameiva exsul is found in coastal habitats of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, the species is also found on the island of Isla Culebra, as well as in the Toro Negro State Forest.Bosques de Puerto Rico: Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro. Hojas de Nuestro Ambiente. July 2008. [Publication/Issue: P-030] Puerto 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 main threat to P. exsul individuals is from other animals which eat ground lizards. Mammalian predators, all invasive species, include feral cats, dogs, and small Indian mongooses. Avian predators include American kestrels, Greater Antillean grackles, and pearly-eyed thrashers.
References
Further reading 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 (1975). A Check-list of West Indian Amphibians and Reptiles. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 216 pp. (Ameiva exsul, pp. 58–59).