The Barrington Land Iguana, or the Santa Fe Land Iguana, (Conolophus pallidus) is a species of lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 in the Iguanidae

Iguanidae

Iguanidae is a family of lizards, composed of iguanas and related species.-Classification of Iguanidae:Two different classification schemes have been used to define the structure of this family. These are the "traditional" classification and the classification presented by Frost et al. .Frost et...

 family. It is one of three species of Conolophus

Conolophus

The Galápagos land iguanas comprise the genus Conolophus of the Galápagos Islands. The name Conolophus is derived from two Greek words: conos meaning "spiny" and lophos meaning "crest" or "plume", denoting the spiny crests along the backs of these species...

.
It is endemic to Santa Fe Island

Santa Fe Island

Santa Fe Island , also called Barrington Island after admiral Samuel Barrington, is a small island of 24 km² which lies in the centre of the Galapagos archipelago, to the south east of Santa Cruz Island. Geologically it is one of the oldest, since volcanic rocks of about 4 million years old...

 in the Galapagos.

Taxonomy

First described by American Zoologist Edmund Heller

Edmund Heller

Edmund Heller was an American zoologist.Heller attended Stanford University in 1896 and finished his study of zoology with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1901. From 1926 to 1928 he was curator of mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago...

 in 1903, it has been questioned whether C. pallidus is a valid species in its own right or merely a variant or possibly subspecies of the Galapagos Land Iguana

Galapagos Land Iguana

The Galapagos Land Iguana is a species of lizard in the Iguanidae family. It is one of three species of the genus Conolophus...

 found on other islands in the Galapagos.
Its generic name, Conolophus, is derived from two Greek words: conos (κώνος) meaning "spiny" and lophos (λοφος) meaning "crest" or "plume", denoting the spiny crests along their backs. Its specific name pallidus is Latin for "pale", denoting its lighter coloration than C. subcristatus.

Morphology

The Barrington Land Iguana is similar in every detail to the Galapagos Land Iguana except that the Barrington Island Iguana is paler yellow in color with a longer more tapered snout and more pronounced dorsal spines.

The Barrington Land Iguana grows to a length of three feet with a body weight of up to twenty-five pounds. Being cold-blooded

Poikilotherm

A poikilotherm is an organism whose internal temperature varies considerably. It is the opposite of a homeotherm, an organism which maintains thermal homeostasis. Usually the variation is a consequence of variation in the ambient environmental temperature...

, they absorb heat from the sun basking on volcanic rock and at night sleep in burrows to conserve their body heat. These iguanas also enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the island's finch

Finch

The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...

es; the birds remove parasites

Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...

 and tick

Tick

Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida, along with mites, constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians...

s providing relief to the iguana and food for the birds.

Diet

Barrington Land iguanas are primarily herbivorous, however some individuals have shown that they are opportunistic carnivore

Carnivore

A carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...

s supplementing their diet with insects, centipede

Centipede

Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...

s and carrion

Carrion

Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...

.
Because fresh water is scarce on the islands it inhabits, the Land Iguana obtains the majority of its moisture from the prickly-pear cactus

Opuntia galapageia

Opuntia galapageia is a species of plant in the Cactaceae family. It is endemic to the Galapagos Islands . There are three varieties: Opuntia galapageia var. galapageia on Bartolome, Santiago and Pinta, Opuntia galapageia var. macrocarpa on Pinzon and Opuntia galapageia var. profusa on...

 that makes up 80% of its diet: fruit, flowers, pads, and even spines. During the rainy season it will drink from available standing pools of water and feast on yellow flowers of the Genus Portulaca

Portulaca

Portulaca is the type genus of the flowering plant family Portulacaceae, comprising about 40-100 species found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. They are also sometimes known as Rose Moss or more commonly Moss Roses....

.