Blue Axanthic Iguana For Sale

Description

The Blue Axanthic Iguana For Sale (Cyclura lewisi), also known commonly as the Grand Cayman ground iguana, the Grand Cayman blue iguana, and the Cayman Island rock iguana, is an endangered species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. The species is endemic to the island of Grand Cayman.

It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Cuban iguana, Cyclura nubila, but in a 2004 article Frederic J. Burton reclassified it as a separate species because, according to him, the genetic differences discovered four years earlier between the different C. nubila populations warranted this interpretation. The blue iguana is one of the longest-living species of lizard (possibly up to 69 years).

The preferred habitat for the blue iguana is rocky, sunlit, open areas in dry forests or near the shore, as the females must dig holes in the sand to lay eggs in June and July. A possible second clutch is laid in September. The blue iguana’s herbivorous diet includes plants, fruits, and flowers. Its color is tan to gray with a bluish cast that is more pronounced during the breeding season and more so in males. It is large and heavy-bodied with a dorsal crest of short spines running from the base of the neck to the end of the tail.

The Blue Axanthic Iguana For Sale was possibly abundant before European colonization; but fewer than 15 animals remained in the wild by 2003, and this wild population was predicted to become extinct within the first decade of the 21st century.

The species’ decline is mainly being driven by predation by cats and dogs, and indirectly by reduction in suitable habitat as fruit farms are converted to pasture for cattle grazing. Hunting could have also played a role in their decline.

 Since 2004, hundreds of captive-bred animals have been released into a preserve on Grand Cayman run by a partnership headed by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, in an attempt to save the species. At least five non-profit organizations are working with the government of the Cayman Islands to ensure the survival of the blue iguana.

The specific name, lewisi, commemorates the surname of the scientist who collected the holotype of this species, Charles Bernard Lewis.

The closest relatives of the blue iguana are the Cuban iguana (Cyclura nubila) and the Northern Bahamian rock iguana (C. cychlura). The blue iguana can be genetically distinguished from the subspecies found on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac known as C. nubila caymanensis, although it can interbreed with this subspecies and produce fertile offspring.

In 1938, Lewis of the Institute of Jamaica joined an Oxford University biological expedition to the Cayman Islands. Lewis obtained two blue iguanas, a male and a female, which were later lodged with the Natural History Museum, London.

 Chapman Grant, in an article published in 1940, formally described the blue iguana as a separate taxon for the first time, classifying it as the trinomial C. macleayi lewisi. Albert Schwartz and Richard Thomas reclassified it as C. nubila lewisi in 1975, making it a subspecies of the Cuban iguana. In his 2004 article Frederick Burton repeatedly states Schwartz and Carey reclassified it in a 1977 publication, but he is mistaken.

Burton, who runs the captive breeding program on the island, reclassified the blue iguana as a distinct species in 2004. Although it has almost identical head scale counts and patterns as C. nubila, most individuals of this taxon often have five auricular spines as opposed to four in caymanensis, although this is not diagnostic, and individuals of the nominate subspecies show either morphology in similar proportions.

Also most lewisi have an extra pair of scales behind the prefrontals, although not always, and individuals from the other populations may also have these. Thus Burton concluded that using scale characteristics, these three taxa could not be told apart in a consistent manner.

According to him, the most important difference between the lewisi population and the other two is skin color. Although skin color is a variable characteristic that is usually considered unsatisfactory in taxonomy, Burton thought that in this instance it might be appropriate.

Although all three taxa hatch with the same color, as Blue Axanthic Iguana For Sale grow older lewisi becomes more uniformly bluish, whereas the other taxa can be more variable in coloration, although Burton states that this characteristic is not reliable in many circumstances, such as rainy weather.

Other reasons Burton gave for recognising lewisi as a separate species were geography, there is at least 108 kilometres separating the forms, which Burton then interpreted to mean that the populations were reproductively isolated, despite there being no reproductive barriers between the populations.

Grant reported seeing caymanensis on Grand Cayman in 1940, but Burton states that this was likely a mistaken sighting made during rainy weather. Lastly Burton points to mitochondrial DNA analysis performed by Catherine Malone et al. in 2000; although the sample size was extremely small and there was some ambiguity, the different populations did have different haplotypes.

Although Malone et al. found C. nubila sensu lato to be monophyletic, Burton claimed lewisi could be separated from the other two taxa without rendering C. nubila polyphyletic. Although none of this might be used to traditionally delineate a population as a species, he proposed using the “general lineage concept” introduced by Kevin de Queiroz in 1998 to do so anyway.

C. lewisi was originally called the Grand Cayman rock iguana, or Grand Cayman blue rock iguana. After separating this population taxonomically from the other Cayman Islands rock iguanas, Burton proposed a set of new vernacular names for the population in 2004: Grand Cayman blue iguana, Cayman blue iguana or for local colloquial use he proposed the simple abbreviated blue iguana.

Note that the name “blue iguana” is also used for bright blue forms of the green iguana, Iguana iguana.

An example of island gigantism, the blue iguana is the largest native land animal on Grand Cayman with a total nose-to-tail length of 5 ft (1.5 m) and weighing as much as 30 lb (14 kg). This is among the largest species of lizards in the Western Hemisphere.

The largest of the Cyclura, its body length is 20–30 in (510–760 mm) with a tail equal in length. The blue iguana’s toes are articulated to be efficient in digging and climbing trees. The mature male’s skin color ranges from dark grey to turquoise blue, whereas the female is more olive green to pale blue. Young animals tend to be uniformly dark brown or green with faint darker banding.

 When they first emerge from the nest, the neonates have an intricate pattern of eight dark dorsal chevrons from the crest of their necks to their pelvic area. These markings fade by the time the animal is one year old, changing to mottled gray and cream and eventually giving way to blue as adults. The adult blue iguana is typically dark gray, matching the karst rock of its landscape.

Blue Axanthic Iguana For Sale changes its color to blue when it is in the presence of other iguanas to signal and establish territory. The blue color is more pronounced in males of the species. Its distinctive black feet contrast with its lighter overall body color. The blue iguana’s eyes have a golden iris and red sclera.