David R. Vieites

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Critically Endangered Saba Green Iguana, Iguana iguana (Squamata: Iguanidae)

ABSTRACTThe populations of native iguanas in the Caribbean Lesser Antilles are threatened by the wide occur-rence and spread of non-native iguanas. Until recently, competitive hybridization was not believed tothreaten the Saba Green Iguana, a subpopulation ofIguana  iguana(Linnaeus, 1758) from the island ofSaba. However, the arrival of non-native iguanas has put the native population at risk, leading to achange in the conservation status of the Saba Green Iguana to Critically Endangered, according toguidelines from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Here, we generated the com-plete mitogenome of the Saba Green Iguana using Oxford Nanopore long-read technology. The mito-genome is 16,626 bp long and has 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and acontrol region (1194 bp). Noteworthy, this is only the second published mitogenome for theIguanaiguanaspecies complex, despite the known high intraspecific genetic variation.

Date
2023
Data type
Scientific article
Theme
Research and monitoring
Journal
Geographic location
Saba