Body Size and Growth in Two Populations of the Puerto Rican Ground Lizard (Teiidae)

Growth rate and adult body size of the Puerto Rican ground lizard (Ameiva exsul) are compared for two populations from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The population with apparently greater food supplies and less predation shows higher absolute growth rates and larger asymptotic sizes. Within populations, males grow faster than females and reach larger asymptotic sizes. For large animals tail autotomy is significantly more frequent in males than in females.