melanoderma and also where it diverged from other iguanas.
It is theorized that coastal Venezuela is the source population for I. Ī member of the putative Virgin Islands population, on Saint Thomas Genetic data remains to be analyzed from the populations assigned to this subspecies in Venezuela. Recent genetic insights confirm that near-indistinguishable melanistic iguanas (compared to Saba and Montserrat) have identical mitohondrial haplotypes as those two populations in the Lesser Antilles. A news article indicated that it is believed the species was also present on Redonda, but this was not addressed in the original publication several authors have mentioned having seen iguanas, but no specimens have been collected, nor any fossils identified. The mainland distribution has not been well defined. Member populations are found on Montserrat and Saba, as well as on the Virgin Islands and the island of Vieques, and in northern Venezuela, including several coastal islets as well as the mainland vicinity of Cumaná. Distribution Ī member of the putative Venezuelan population, which may be the source population for the subspecies.Īs proposed in the original publication, the subspecies displays a very unusual disjunct distribution. insularis) is instead classified as a subspecies of the green iguana, as I.
The Reptile Database also recognizes the Saban black iguana as a distinct taxonomic entity, but due to its close relation to the green iguana, it (along with the two subspecies of I. Lucia and the Grenadines, which are considered a distinct subspecies, I. iguana iguana), with both forming a clade that is the sister group of the green iguana populations present on St. melanoderma is the sister group of the green iguana populations from South America (considered I. It was reclassified as a separate subspecies based on a number of genomic distinctions (private microsatellite alleles and unique mitochondrial ND4 haplotypes) and consistent morphological characteristics. The subspecies was previously considered to represent melanistic individuals of the green iguana.
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