Fiji Banded Iguana - Taxonomy and Etymology

Taxonomy and Etymology

This species was first described by French zoologist Alexandre Brongniart in 1800. The generic name, Brachylophus, is derived from two Greek words: brachys (βραχύς) meaning "short" and lophos (λόφος) meaning "crest" or "plume", denoting the short spiny crests along the back of this species. The specific name, fasciatus, is a Latin word meaning "banded".

The species is closely related to the Fiji crested iguana and B. bulabula. The genus Brachylophus has been suggested to have descended from a more widespread lineage of (now extinct) Old World iguanids that diverged from their New World relatives in the Paleogene. However, no other members of the putative lineage, living or fossil, have been found outside Fiji and Tonga. An alternative theory is that the ancestors of these iguanas rafted 9000 km west across the Pacific Ocean from the Americas, where their closest relatives are found.