A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Microlophus albemarlensis (female)
The females look quite different, being less colourful and smaller (this specimen measured around 7cm, excluding the tail). They do, however, display these bright orange/red cheek patches, which are also an indicator for sexual maturity. Base colour is a yellowish brown with grey. The scales are keeled and pointy, but the overall appearance is not as 'spiky' as the males.
Found on lava rocks at Darwin Research Station. This species is endemic to the Galápagos Islands.
Lava lizards belong to the Iguanidae family, being related to Iguanas. Some authors consider the Santa Cruz population to be a different species - Microlophus indefatigabilis.
Spotted on Apr 17, 2015
Submitted on Jun 18, 2017
7 Comments
...and thank you António for your kind words.
Thank you, Kostas.
Congratulations Felix!
Awesome series Felix,super,congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing
Thanks, Daniele, for the SOTD! Always great to have one of those.
Thanks, Mark. Much appreciated.
Congrats Felix.
Congratulations on all your recent Galápagos Lava Lizard spottings Felix, we've picked this one as our Spotting of the Day!
"Endemic to the Galápagos, this female Galápagos Lava Lizard (Microlophus albemarlensis) is our Spotting of the Day! Together with size, there are marked color and morphological differences between sexes in this species. Color also varies across islands in the archipelago. The bright orange patches in the females are an indicator of sexual maturity. Project Noah member Felix Fleck just added 14 separate spottings of these lizards showing a whole range of variations. Spotted on Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador.
This spotting is part of our Galápagos Biodiversity mission, a mission initiated by the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galápagos. Check it out: http://buff.ly/2rxoEKN".
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/pho...
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/8...