Pink Iguana: Gabriele Gentile

Charles Darwin did not discover them in 1835 but now a new iguana species has been found on the island of Galapagos: the rosada land iguana.

A pink and black-striped pattern sets the iguana apart from the yellow land iguanas found previously on the islands. They are located on the Volcan Wolf volcano on the island of Isabela, the only place where the pink iguanas live.

The rare land iguanas were first seen, in fact, only in 1986, when one was spotted by park rangers on Volcan Wolf on the island of Isabela. Now, with more finds, their discovery has been announced.

Volcan Wolf volcano may yet turn up more surprises for researchers on the Galapagos. Scientists earlier found that a giant tortoise species marked as extinct has lived on through hybrid descendants in the same region.

The discoverer is Gabriele Gentile of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He and colleagues say that the pink iguana is distinct from the two recognized species of land iguana on the Galápagos.