Iguana

Iguana
Scientific classification
Phylum: Chordata   Class: Reptilia   Order: Squamata   Suborder: Iguania   Family: Iguanidae   Genus: Iguana Laurenti, 1768
Species
Lesser Antillean Iguana, I. delicatissima   Green Iguana, I. iguana

Although iguana can refer to other members of the lizard family Iguanidae, this article concerns members of the genus Iguana. For information on other genera, see Iguanas. For an article on the information on the species of iguana most commonly kept as pets, see Green iguana.

Iguanas tend to have tall, flat plates jutting from their back like spines, when adult. Several species of this genus are common as pets, especially the Green Iguana in the United States and Canada, which can easily grow to six feet long, even in captivity. When treated well they can be docile, litterbox trainable, and even walked on a leash. Such pets are either crèche-raised, or harvested from the wild in Mexico. The average life span of a well taken care of pet iguana is usually 20 years. Captured iguanas kept as pets tend to be thin and nervous, often dying from side-effects of the stress of adapting to captivity - though if they're given a large swimming area in which to hide, their chances of survival improve, as they live on stream banks in the wild, diving in when alarmed or for other reasons. As they are cold-blooded creatures, they thrive in humid climates.

Species of the genus Iguana

• Lesser Antillean Iguana, Iguana delicatissima is one of the species of the genus Iguana. This does not mean that they are delicious by any means but in some places they are a delicacy.  If anyone says they taste like chicken then let them eat chicken. Though belonging to the same genus as the Green Iguana, the Lesser Antilles Iguanas has a more blocky, shortened face than the Green Iguana and lacks the distinctive stripe pattern present along the Green Iguana's tail.
• Green Iguana, Iguana iguana

References

• Frost, D.E. and R.E. Etheridge (1989) A Phylogenetic Analysis and Taxonomy of Iguanian Lizards (Reptilia: Squamata). Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. Misc. Publ. 81
• Frost, D.R., R. Etheridge, D. Janies and T.A. Titus (2001) Total evidence, sequence alignment, evolution of Polychrotid lizards, and a reclassification of the Iguania (Squamata: Iguania). American Museum Novitates 3343: 38 pp.

 

Illustration of an iguana in the 1851 "The Illustrated London Reading Book"

An iguana found in Costa Rica

An iguana found in Cozumel

An iguana found in Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands