Cyclura cychlura figginsi is a subspecies of the northern Bahamian rock iguana, Cyclura cychlura. Its subspecific name commemorates the American biologist J. D. Figgins. In the late 19th century the American naturalist Charles Johnson Maynard mentioned that populations of iguanas still existed on the small island Bitter Guana Cay, being the namesake of the toponym, and he also mentioned that he thought it was possible this population could be named as a new species. In 1923 Thomas Barbour obliged. In 1975 Albert Schwartz and Richard Thomas subsumed it as a subspecies of C. cychlura. In their 1977 monograph on Cyclura, Schwartz and W. M. Carey explain that it is morphologically indistinguishable in squamation from other forms of C. cychlura.
Description
This attains a total length of close to. Its coloration is dark-gray to black, with white or orange tinged scales on the head and snout depending upon which cay the iguana is from. This species is sexually dimorphic; males are larger than females.
Distribution
Cyclura cychlura figginsi is endemic to the Exuma Cays. This subspecies is found on at least seven small cays throughout the central and southern Exuma island chain of the Bahamas: Bitter Guana Cay, Gaulin Cay, White Bay Cay, Noddy Cay, North Adderly Cay, Leaf Cay, and Guana Cay. The entire population on Leaf Cay was transferred to Pasture Cay in 2002.
Ecology
Habitat
The iguana utilizes a variety of habitats from sandy beaches and :wikt:xeric|xeric limestone devoid of vegetation to Bahamian dry forests. The iguanas use limestone crevices or sand burrows for retreats at night and in adverse weather conditions.
Behaviour
Exuma Island iguanas display neither territorial nor hierarchical behaviour. Adult iguanas have been observed basking in large groups without showing any signs of aggression toward one another. Carey hypothesises that this lack of a social structure allows the population to remain dense under conditions of limited resources because hierarchical social systems on small cays retard genetic variation by restricting prime nesting sites, food supplies, and retreats to a few dominant males. The longevity record in captivity for an Exuma Island iguana is twenty-three years, six months.
Mating occurs in May, and a clutch of three eggs is usually laid in June or July, in nests excavated in the sand. Females are known to guard these nest sites until they lay their eggs, after which they abandon them.
Conservation
Endangered status
The 2004 estimate of the current wild population is less than 1,300 animals, and it was said to have declined by at least 20% over the past 50 years.
Causes of decline
As with other rock iguanas, their habitat is in rapid decline due to development for tourism. In 2004 a large-scale fire possibly caused by a tourist's cigarette was reported on an iguana-inhabited island. In 1999 two Florida men were found guilty of smuggling protected reptile species into the US, including the Exuma Island iguana, Cyclura rileyi, and the Lesser Antillean iguana. Feral pigs pose a threat to the Exuma Island iguanas, as they dig up eggs from iguana nests and feral dogs prey upon juvenile and adult iguanas. Current population size is estimated at 1,300 and has declined by at least 20% over the past 50 years.
Recovery efforts
Like all Bahamian rock iguanas, this species is protected in the Bahamas under the Wild Animals Protection Act of 1968. Since 1995, Shedd Aquarium has allowed volunteers to help survey populations of Exuma Island iguanas as a form of ecotourism. Shedd maintains an in situ as well as an ex situcaptive breeding program in order to breed this taxon. In 2002, Shedd Aquarium translocated sixteen iguanas to the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park in an effort to establish the species in a protected area. The Bahamian Government has no official captive breeding or conservation program for the Exuma Island iguana.
