The erythrocephala group inhabits the Lesser Antilles  from Anguilla south to Dominica, though a now extinct species once existed on Martinique. This group consists of  10 mid-sized to large  species, each endemic to a particular island or island bank  where it is almost always the only native ameiva. This group is  thought to be descended from the aforementioned dorsalis group, possibly from a Puerto Rican or Hispaniolan species. On small islands, melanistic species such as A. atrata and A. corax are found. Nearly all members of this clade, even melanistic forms,  possess the characteristic pink snout mentioned earlier; in fact, only one of the three entirely black species, A. corvina, does not posses it. Though morphologically this  group is not as variable as the dorsalis group, there is still considerable variation in size, with the largest species,  A. fuscata, attaining  a mean SVL of 200 mm, larger than some Greater Antillean giants,  and the  smallest species,  A. griswoldi peaking at 124 mm.  All species within the erythrocephala group are habitat generalists,  though some species are either restricted to small xeric islands such as A. atrata of Redonda,  or else are restricted to certain areas within their own island, such as A. pluvianotata of Montserrat.

Finally: The  Ameiva Ameiva group consists of six  large  species inhabiting  South and Central America as well as Isla de Providencia, Trinidad and Grenada in the Caribbean, where the only three insular species of this clade, A. fuliginosa,  A. atrigularis  and A. tobagana, are found. Both A. fuliginosa and A. tobagana are usually considered subspecies of the South American A. ameiva  (top of page), though morphologically they are both quite distinct and appear to deserve full species status. Ameiva atrigularis,  formerly considered a subspecies of A. ameiva, is found on Trinidad and Tobago as well as on  mainland South America. This group  possesses some variation  in size, ranging from the moderately-sizedA. a tobagana to A. praesignis, which is the largest ameiva species. Most species are quite similar ecologically.

The distribution of the genus Ameiva  across the  neotropics mirrors that of Anolis in that the species of the southern Lesser Antilles  are immediately descended from  South American  forms (the  roquet group of the Dactyloa clade of Anolis has a  similar distribution to the A. ameiva group and also has its closest relatives in South America),  while those from Dominica northwards to the Puerto Rican Island bank have their closest relatives on Puerto Rico and Hispaniola- much like the Lesser Antillean members of the Ctenonotus clade of Anolis. Interestingly the Dominican A. fuscata, which is the southernmost occurring member of the erythrocephala group and the closest geographically to the A. ameiva group, also shares certain characteristics of  that   group including large body size and pattern as well as several morphological attributes. The northernmost  member of the Ameiva ameiva group is A. tobagana of Grenada, the Grenadines and St. Vincent. A. praesignis and A. ameiva of the A. ameiva group have also  established populations in Florida