Green Iguana - Taxonomy and Etymology

Taxonomy and Etymology

The species was first officially described by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. In the two centuries since then, numerous subspecies have been identified, but later classified as merely regional variants of the same species.

Using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA-sequence data to explore the phylogenic history of the green iguana, scientists from Utah Valley State College studied animals collected from 17 different countries. The topology of phylogeny indicated that the species originated in South America and eventually radiated through Central America and the Caribbean. The study revealed no unique mitochondrial DNA haplotypes for subspecific status but did indicate the deep lineage divergence between Central and South American populations.

The word iguana is derived from a Spanish form of the Taíno name for the species: iwana. In some Spanish speaking countries, males of the species are referred to as gorrobo or ministro and juveniles are called iguanita or gorrobito.