The Lesser Antillean Ameiva (Sauria, Teiidae) Re-evaluation, zoogeography and the effects of predation

The Ameiva of the Lesser Antilles present an interesting case of isolated populations of related animals on a chain of islands that differ in size and proximity among themselves but form a geographic group. The situation is made still more interesting by the fact that at times in the Pleistocene the sea was 100 fathoms or more lower, and certain of the islands were then connected by land. The discovery of a new species of Ameiva on Maria Island off the south coast of St. Lucia and the attempt to identify and place taxonomically the three specimens first sent to us by GARTH UNDERWOOD provided the stimulus to a brief re-survey of this neglected but, from a zoogeographic and evolutionary point of view, extremely interesting set of forms. Of this new species we have been able to examine two additional specimens collected by Père ROBERT PINCHON of the Séminaire Collège, Fort-de-France, Martinique, and a series obtained by J. D. LAZELL, JR. in the summer of 1962, as well as 23 specimens collected by A. SCHWARTZ and assistants.