Reptilia · Squamata
Pholidoscelis chrysolaemusCope, 1868
Common Ameiva
Identification not confirmed. One observer recorded this animal as this species and no one has since agreed, so the photograph may show a different animal.
Photograph by TOUROULT Julien, CC BY, via iNaturalist
A ground-dwelling, day-active, meat-eating lizard from the Neotropic region, reaching 160 mm snout to vent.
Also called Hispaniolan Giant Groundlizard.
Once published as Ameiva chrysolaema, Pholidoscelis chrysolaema, Pholidoscelis umbratilis — those names reach this page.
Reptilia › Squamata › Teiidae › Pholidoscelis
- Grows to
- 160mm
- greatest recorded
- Eats
- Carnivorous
- Active
- Diurnal
- Lives
- Terrestrial
Longer than 84% of all species in Teiidae anyone has measured.
The bar is the rank itself: its length is the share of the family this animal exceeds. The chart below is the family’s real spread, on a logarithmic scale because body length here runs from 52.4 to 614 mm. The solid rule is this animal. Every bar is a count of real species, and nothing on this figure is estimated.
What is known
35 sourced facts, each taken from a named scientific dataset. How to read these.
Cited from a dataset unless a row is marked otherwise.
Standing in the world
- Still living
- Extant
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Status assessed · the year the Red List last looked
- 2015
- Population trend
- Stable
The animal itself
- Limbs
- Four legs
- Venomous
- No
- Fangs
- None
- Body temperature when active · measured in the wild
- 37.05°C99 °F
- Body temp in the wild · mean, when active
- 36.6–37.5°C98–100 °F
mean body temperature of active individuals in nature
body temperature of active animals in nature
Size
- Length snout to vent · greatest recorded
- 160mm6.25 in
- Length snout to vent · adult female mean
- 89.1mm3.5 in
- Largest female · snout to vent
- 89.1mm3.5 in
- Body mass · greatestcomputed
- 128.2g4.5 oz
max 160 mm SVL (Feldman et al. 2016)
snout-vent length; the source column mixes this with straight carapace length
computed from length by a family-level allometric equation, not weighed
How it lives
- Diet
- Carnivorous
- How it hunts
- Active foraging
- Active
- Diurnal
- Where it lives
- Terrestrial
- Habitat
- Forest, Shrubland
- Biome
- Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
- Region
- Neotropic
- Mainland or island
- Found only on islands
- Highest it lives · above sea level
- 510m
- Range size
- 52,163km²
- Density · highest recorded
- 144per hectare
- Home range · largest recorded
- 250.3m2
arthropods, some plant material, lizards (Henderson and Powell 2009), mainly invertebrates (Sproston et al. 1999), lizards (Maure and Rodriguez-Cabrera 2018)
Active foraging
Breeding
- Reproduction
- Oviparous
- Average clutch
- 5eggs
- Eggs or young per clutch
- 5eggs
Naming and history
- Suborder
- Sauria
- Infraorder
- Laterata
- Subspecies
- Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus chrysolaemus (COPE 1868) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus abbotti (NOBLE 1923) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus alacris (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus boekeri (MERTENS 1939) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus defensor (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus evulsa (SCHWARTZ 1973) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus ficta (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus jacta (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus parvoris (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus procax (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus quadrijugis (SCHWARTZ 1968) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus regularis (FISCHER 1888) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus richardthomasi (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus secessa (SCHWARTZ & KLINIKOWSKI 1966) Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus woodi (COCHRAN 1934)
- Described by
- Cope
- Moved to another genus · since it was first described
- Yes
- Described in
- 1868
- Type locality
- Haiti
Keeping one
2 ft 1 in × 2 ft 1 in × 15.5 in(64 × 64 × 40 cm)
Minimum length × width × height, for one animal. Bigger is always better.
The standard sizes ground-dwelling species at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times snout-vent length.
Mindestanforderungen an die Haltung von Reptilien (Sachverständigengutachten), German Federal Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, Animal Welfare Division, 10 January 1997. The standard states these floor areas are recommendations rather than binding limits.
From this animal’s own snout-vent length of 6.25 in (160 mm), at 4 × 4 × 2.5 times it, following the German federal welfare standard — how this is worked out.
Active animals measured in the wild averaged 99 °F (37.1 °C).
Mean body temperature of active individuals measured in nature. A measurement of the animal, not a setting for a thermostat.
Feeding
A prey item should be no wider than the space between the animal's eyes.
Widely used across reptile husbandry references. The stated reason is that the gap approximates the width of the throat, so wider prey is associated with impaction. This is established practice, not a measurement.
15kJ per day
Worked out for an animal of 128 g, the heaviest recorded for Common Ameiva — so it is the top of the range, not a figure for a particular animal. Weigh yours and the number will be lower.
An upper estimate, not a feeding target, and not veterinary advice. The equation covers only what an animal burns staying alive, so a growing, gravid or recovering animal needs more — and it was measured on wild animals, which move far more than one in an enclosure. Body condition and a vet who knows the species are what a feeding decision should rest on. Where this comes from.
What nobody knows
These are not gaps in our research. No scientific dataset records them for this species — and saying so is information you cannot get from a reference that simply leaves a field out.
- — Length snout to vent · adult male mean
- — Length snout to vent · adult mean
- — Length nose to tail · greatest recorded
- — Female length · mean, nose to tail
- — Length nose to tail · adult male mean
- — Length nose to tail · adult mean
- — Largest male · snout to vent
- — Largest female · shell length
- — Largest male · shell length
- — Hatchling length · snout to vent
- — Hatchling length · nose to tail
- — Largest juvenile · snout to vent
- — Largest juvenile · shell length
- — Egg length
- — Egg width
- — Body mass · a typical adult
- — Body mass · adult female, mean
- — Body mass at hatching
- — Longest recorded life
- — Preferred body temperature · chosen in a laboratory gradient
- — Eats arthropods
- — Eats vertebrates
- — Eats plant matter
- — How the young develop
- — Gestation or incubation
- — Mean clutch · smallest reported
- — Mean clutch · largest reported
- — Clutches in a year
- — Clutches a year · fewest
- — Clutches a year · most
- — First breeds from · youngest recorded
- — First breeds by · oldest recorded
- — Hatchling length · smallest recorded
- — Hatchling length · largest recorded
- — Age at first breeding · female
- — Mature from · youngest recorded
- — Mature by · oldest recorded
- — Size at maturity · smallest recorded
- — Size at maturity · largest recorded
- — Colour on the back
- — Pattern on the back
- — Pupil
- — Sex decided by
- — Red List criteria
- — Active season · shortest recorded
- — Active season · longest recorded
- — Density · lowest recorded
- — Active in
- — Lowest it lives · above sea level
Others in Teiidae
Take this data
Everything on this page is available as data under CC BY 4.0 — use it freely, credit it, no permission needed.
This species as JSON · the whole dataset
Cite this page
The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia (2026). Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus. Retrieved 2026-09-08, from https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/pholidoscelis-chrysolaemus
@misc{pholidoscelis_chrysolaemus_2026,
title = {Pholidoscelis chrysolaemus},
author = {{The Reptile & Amphibian Encyclopedia}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.allanglescreatures.com/species/pholidoscelis-chrysolaemus}
}Sources
- Meiri, S. (2024). SquamBase — a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography. Public domain (CC0).
- Oskyrko, O. et al. (2024). ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data. Used under CC BY 4.0.
- Catalogue of Life (dataset 3LR), used under CC BY.