The Sombrero Ameiva is a lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 species in the genus Ameiva

Ameiva

Ameiva, commonly called jungle-runners, is a genus of whiptail lizards that belongs to the family of Teiidae. Member species are found in South America and throughout various islands of the Caribbean.-Species:...

. It is endemic to Sombrero

Sombrero, Anguilla

Sombrero, also known as Hat Island, is the northernmost island of the Lesser Antilles in position 18° 60'N, 63° 40'W. It lies north west of Anguilla across the Dog and Prickly Pear Passage. The distance to Dog Island, the closest island of Anguilla, is . Sombrero is long north-south, and wide....

, a small, uninhabited island in the Lesser Antilles

Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...

 under the jurisdiction of Anguilla

Anguilla

Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...

. The population appears to be thriving, possibly due to its isolation from human activity.

Adults are melanistic, appearing plain brown to slate black, with a dark green to black ventral surface mottled with light blue. Its tail is sometimes speckled green. Males have brown flecks on the dorsal surface and browner heads. Males grow to 133 mm snout-to-vent length, with females being considerably smaller.

Its diet includes the eggs

Bird egg

Bird eggs are laid by females and incubated for a time that varies according to the species; a single young hatches from each egg. Average clutch sizes range from one to about 17...

 of ground-nesting bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s.

It is superficially similar in coloration and scalation to Ameiva atrata and Ameiva corax, two other melanistic species also found on small, barren islands in the Caribbean. As both island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

s have similar habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s, this is likely the result of independent adaptation.

External links

• Ameiva corvina at the Encyclopedia of Life
  Encyclopedia of Life
  The Encyclopedia of Life is a free, online collaborative encyclopedia intended to document all of the 1.9 million living species known to science. It is compiled from existing databases and from contributions by experts and non-experts throughout the world...