As soon as you start walking on any rocky path in the Galapagos, you will almost certainly encounter an interesting member of the Galapagos herpetofauna, the lava lizard (Tropiduridae: Microlophus.) The jury is still out on the exact number of species (or monophyletic lineages) of these reptiles that inhabit the islands, but the evidence is…
Category: Reptiles
Galapagos: Marine iguanas
When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835, he was a young, probably still a bit immature man, and thus I can forgive him the unflattering description of one of the most amazing reptiles that has ever lived on our planet, which he included in his diary of the voyage of the Beagle. Marine…
The other aquatic iguana
In a couple of days I am heading off to the Galapagos Islands, where I hope to be able to see the incredible marine iguanas, the world’s only truly marine lizards. Other lizards enter water occasionally, but aquatic lifestyle is quite rare among these reptiles, and few species live and feed under water. But in…
The Smaller Majority 