Navassa Island Iguana (Cyclura cornuta ssp. onchiopsis)
The Navassa Island Iguana is a subspecies of the Rhinoceros Iguana (Cyclura cornuta (Bonaterre)) that was restricted to the tiny and uninhabited Navassa Island and is sometimes treated as a distinct species.
The animals reached sizes of 60 cm to about 1,3 m and were dark green, grey to nearly blackish grey or brown in color.
The Navassa form was described in 1885, it disappeared sometimes after completely unnoticed, the reasons for its extinction are probably mainly found in habitat destruction by guano mining as well as predation by introduced dogs and rats.
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edited: 16.05.2021
Tag Archives: Iguanidae
Cyclura sp. ‘Barbuda’
Barbuda Iguana (Cyclura sp.)
This form, which might have been a distinct species, is currently known only from a single bone, a braincase, found on the island of Barbuda.
The species apparently disappeared as early as shortly after the occupation of the island by Amerindian settlers.
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References:
[1] Gregory K. Pregill; David W. Steadman; David R. Watters: Late Quaternary vertebrate faunas of the Lesser Antilles: historical components of Caribbean biogeography. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 30: 1-51. 1994
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edited: 16.05.2021