Lesser Antillean iguana

Appearance

It is one of two species of lizard of the genus Iguana and is in severe decline due to habitat destruction, introduced feral predators, hunting, and hybridization with its introduced sister species, the green iguana (Iguana iguana). Other common names for it are Lesser Antillean green iguana or West Indian iguana.

Range and habitat

The Lesser Antillean iguana is found in scrub woodlands, rainforests, and mangroves throughout the Lesser Antilles on Saint Barth, Anguilla, St. The exact reasons for their disappearance differs on each island. The Lesser Antillean iguana is a large arboreal lizard endemic to the Lesser Antilles.

In addition, the green iguana has hybridized with the Lesser Antillean iguana, that has been the biggest reason for the latter species' decline on numerous islands (Basse Terre and Grande Terre (Guadeloupe), St. After a group of green iguanas washed ashore after Hurricane Luis in 1995 on the island of Anguilla, the endemic Lesser Antillean iguana population was gone within twenty years.

Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.

Diet and breeding

During the wet season (August to December), they consume leaves from various plants and also eat fruits from multiple plant species, among them Barbados cherry (Malpighia emarginata) and manchineel. Eustatius showed that inquilines make use of nest tunnels and nest chambers dug by female Lesser Antillean iguanas, suggesting that this species should be considered as an ecosystem engineer.

Successful captive breeding of this species has been limited to only two instances, as most captive-laid eggs tend to be infertile.

In crisis

The Lesser Antillean iguana is a critically endangered and is on the IUCN Red List. Other threats include habitat loss to agriculture and human development, as well as the introduction of feral predators such as dogs, cats, and mongooses. Another major threat comes from the green iguana.

The green iguana has been introduced to the Lesser Antilles as an invasive species and directly competes with the Lesser Antillean iguana for food and resources. Captive Lesser Antillean iguanas are currently kept at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Chester Zoo, the Memphis Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo's Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species.

Lesser Antillean iguana is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.

Sources

Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Lesser Antillean iguana, Wikidata item Q368837. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.