Zandolie, Jungle Runner, Giant Ameiva, Ameiva atrigularis (Family Teiidae)

Ameiva surinamensis var. atrigularis Garman 1887.
Ameiva ameiva ameiva — Marcuzzi 1950: 101 (part.)
Ameiva ameiva tobagana — Peters & Donoso-Barros 1970: 20.
Ameiva ameiva atrigularis — Tuck & Hardy 1973: 241
Ameiva ameiva — Murphy 1997: 152
Ameiva atrigularis — Ugueto & Harvey 2011

Taxonomy & Systematics. This account follows
 Ugueto and Harvey (2011).

Distribution. Northern Venezuela including the Distrito Capital, Vargas, Miranda, Sucre, Peninsula de Paria, Isla de Margarita), Trinidad, Tobago, Little Tobago and satellites.

Natural History. This is a giant species of Ameiva, with adults reaching a body size that may exceed 0.5 m. The Zandolie is omnivorous, feeding on insects, small vertebrates, and fruits. It is visible on bright sunny days when it is
searching for food and mates, at other times they
are

concealed in burrows. Females are oviparous and probably lay several clutches of eggs annually. Habitats used are deciduous tropical and premontane humid forest, forest-edge, as well as areas of forest with open undergrowth where patches of light reach the forest floor, scrub lands, secondary growth, suburban yards and gardens, roadsides, and beaches.

Barbour, T. and Noble G.K.. 1915. A revision of the lizards of the genus Ameiva. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 59: 417-479. - get paper here

Burt, C.E. & Burt, M.D. 1931. South American lizards in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 61 (7): 227-395

Garman, S. 1887. On the West Indian Teiids in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Bull. Essex Inst. 19: 1-12.

Gorzula, Stefan & Senaris, J. C. 1999. In: Contribution to the herpetofauna of the Venezuelan Guayana. I: a data base. Scientia Guaianae, Caracas, No. 8 [1998], 269+ pp.

Murphy, J.C. 1997. Amphibians & Reptiles of Trinidad & Tobago. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida, 304 pp.

Peters, James A. & Donoso-Barros, R. 1970. Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: Part II. Lizards and Amphisbaenians. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 297: 293 pp.

Rivas Fuenmayor, G. and Barrio Amorós C.L. 2005. New Amphibian and Reptile records from Cojedes State, Venezuela. Herpetological Review 36 (2):205-209.

Roze, J.A. 1964. La herpetologia de la Isla de Margarita, Venezuela. Soc. de Cienc. Natur. 'La Salle', Caracas, Mem. 24(69): 209-241.

Tuck, R. G., Hardy, J.D. 1973. Status of the Ober Tabago collection, Smithsonian Institution, and the proper allocation of Ameiva surinamensis tobaganus Cope (Sauria: Teiidae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 86 (19): 231-242

Ugueto, G. N. and Harvey M.B. 2011. Revision of Ameiva ameiva Linnaeus (Squamata: Teiidae) in Venezuela: Recognition of Four Species and Status of Introduced Populations in Southern Florida, USA. Herpetological Monographs 25 (1): 112-170.