Wolf cluster

Wolf cluster

Specimens from Wolf form a cluster in the RADseq tree and cluster separately from most other islands except Roca Redonda in the SNP–PCA. This population has affinities to A. c. cristatus from Fernandina and Isabela as suggested by SNP–PCA and mitochondrial haplotypes, but female specimens from Wolf show a weak morphological differentiation despite low sample size. We describe the Wolf population as A. c. jeffreysi subsp. nov., and furthermore include in this subspecies the population from Roca Redonda in a preliminary way, based on its placement by the SNP–PCA. Once morphological data from Roca Redonda become available, the identity of this population should be re-evaluated. We also include in this same subspecies the population from Darwin in a preliminary way because of (1) affinities in the SNP–PCA, (2) sharing of the only Darwin non-exclusive mtDNA haplotype with Wolf specimens, (3) morphological similarities and (4) biogeographic affinities given that both Darwin and Wolf located in the north of the Galápagos archipelago, geographically isolated from other islands. More morphological data for appropriately sexed specimens are needed to test this taxonomic hypothesis.

TAXONOMIC REVISION

We here follow the rationale of MacLeod et al. (2015a) to consider the evolutionary divergence among populations of Galápagos marine iguanas insufficient to warrant a status of separate species for any of them.

Therefore, all marine iguanas are classified in a single species, A. cristatus , subdivided into 11 subspecies: