On the distribution of Northern Bahamian Rock Iguanas (Cyclura cychlura) in the Exuma Islands
Herpetological Review
2017
Journal Article
48
1
28-31
Cyclura cychlura
The Northern Bahamian Rock Iguana (Cyclura cychlura) occurs naturally only in the Exuma Islands and Andros Island of The Bahamas, and is a globally Vulnerable species. In the Exumas, the IUCN Red List gives its distribution as restricted to thirteen islands (Knapp et al. 2004). However, various reports of its occurrence on other islands, many without documentation, suggest a wider distribution (e.g., Smith and Iverson 2006; Buckner et al. 2012). Outside of its well-known population centers, there has been no recent contemporaneous survey of the species occurrence within its overall range in the Exumas. In this paper, I report the results of a survey of the Exuma Islands, which together with other postRed List reports (Buckner et al. 2012), show iguanas to be more widely distributed among islands in the Exumas than currently documented in the literature, findings that have conservation implications.