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58 IGUANA Volume 10, Number 2

I G U A N A  N E W S B R I E F S
The IIS
Contributes to
Conservation
Contributions from
International Iguana Society
members have made it
possible for the IIS to
provide assistance to several
ongoing projects. Within
the past year, the Society has
made contributions to: (1)
the Blue Iguana Recovery
Program on Grand Cayman
Island (with special thanks
to the Pacific Northwest
Herpetological Society for
their generous donation),
(2) graduate student Rachel
Goodman to support her
Blue Iguana (Cyclura lewisi)
research, (3) new cages for
headstarting Ctenosaura
bakeri at the Iguana
Research and Breeding
Station on Utila, Honduras,
and (4) shipping mongoose
traps to Jamaica, where 
they will be used to trap
mongooses that prey on
Jamaican Iguanas, Cyclura
collei.

The IIS plans to continue
support for the implementa-
tion of the Blue Iguana
Recovery Plan (see
www.Cyclura.com) and is
actively engaged in
fundraising to help purchase
critical Ctenosaura bakeri
nesting habitat on Utila (see
Letter from the President,
p. 59). Your membership
dues and contributions help
the IIS make a difference
for endangered iguanas in
the wild. We appreciate your
continuing support.

A New Fossil
Iguana from Fiji
Gregory K. Pregill and
Trevor H. Worthy (2003.
Herpetologica 59:57–67)
described Lapitiguana
impensa based on fossil
remains found in late
Quaternary sediments on
Viti Levu, the main island
of Fiji. The differences
between this spectacularly
large (SVL ca. 500 mm)
iguana and extant Fiji
iguanas in the genus
Brachylophus were suffi-
ciently substantive that the
authors placed this new
discovery in a separate
genus. Like Brachylophus,
however, this iguana appears
to be basal among the
Iguanidae, although exact
relationships cannot be
resolved with the available
evidence. This giant form
probably became extinct
soon after humans first
colonized the islands about
3000 years ago.

The new generic name
derives from Lapita, a
proper name given to the
distinctive pottery associ-
ated with the first human
settlers of Fiji, who
disappeared from the
archaeological record soon
thereafter, and iguana,
an aboriginal Amerindian
name apparently designat-
ing a kind of lizard. The
species name is from the
Latin impensa (= ample or
large), in reference to the
large body size of this lizard.

Although the data are
sparse, they do not seem 
to support a sister-taxon
relationship between
Lapitiguana and
Brachylophus, suggesting
that Fiji might have been
colonized twice by iguanid
lizards. The authors also
suggest that Brachylophus
was able to coexist with
humans primarily due to its
cryptic, arboreal lifestyle. 
In contrast, Lapitiguana,
which was most certainly a
conspicuous, terrestrial
form, became extinct as a
direct result of human
agency soon after the Lapita
people arrived in Fiji.

IIS Member Wins
Science Fair
IIS member Nicholas
Jones of Little Rock,
Arkansas recently won first
place in zoology at his
school Science Fair for
research on the use of color
vision in food selection by
Green Iguanas. In further
competition, Nicholas’s
research paper again placed
first at both the Central
Arkansas Regional Science
Fair and the Arkansas Junior
Academy of Sciences.

In an earlier experiment, in
which the same foods were
presented to a Green
Iguana on different colored
plates, Nicholas’s iguana,
Frank, had selected food
presented on a red plate
four times as frequently as
that presented on a black
plate. In the current
experiment, Frank was
presented with hibiscus
flowers in two different
colors. Both a red blossom
and a pale yellow or white
blossom were offered to the
iguana 23 separate times
and records kept of which
blossom he chose to eat
first.  At each feeding, the
placement of the blossoms
was switched to eliminate
the possibility that the
iguana was just eating on
the same side of the cage.
Frank chose to eat the red
blossoms first in 18 of the

23 trials, leading Nicholas
to conclude that his iguana
was indeed using color
vision in selecting food. 

Nicholas now goes on to
compete in the national
Discovery Channel Science
Challenge. We wish him
the best of luck and hope
he continues his scientific
pursuits!

CHS Works to
Help Iguanas
The Chicago
Herpetological Society
conservation booth at the
annual CHS Reptile Fest
(April 5–6) was a huge
success. IIS members Lori
King and Betsy Davis
were on hand to educate
people about Grand
Cayman Blue Iguanas and
Utila Iguanas, as well as
Massassauga Rattlesnakes.
Lori’s juvenile Ctenosaura
bakeri, Nagual, made his
first public appearance and
proved to be the star of the
show. A variety of general
merchandise such as Utila
Iguana T-shirts, Christmas
ornaments, bookplates, and
stuffed animals worked like
magnets to draw every
child to the table — with
parent in tow, begging 
for a stuffed animal.
Altogether, the effort 
raised $1,505 for the Utila
Iguana nesting property
fund. Of incalculable value,
however, was the opportu-
nity to explain the plight of
these exquisite animals to
every visitor to the table.The Grand Cayman Blue Iguana (Cyclura lewisi) is function-

ally extinct in the wild. The IIS is promoting and supporting
the Blue Iguana Recovery Program (see Profile, p. 53).


