Iguana, desert

Bealor, M. T. and Krekorian, C. O. (2002) Chemosensory identification of lizard-eating snakes in the desert iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis (Squamata Iguanidae). J. Herpetol. 36, 9-15. 

Pedersen, J. M. (1992) Field observations on the role of tongue extrusion in the social-behavior of the desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis). J. Comp. Psych. 106, 287-294. 

The VNO plays an important role in feeding behavior in garter snakes (Halpern and Frumin, 1979). Lizards also appear to use their VNO for food detection. Examples are the scincid lizard Chalcides ocellatus Gnves and Halpern, 1990) and the desert iguana D. dorsalis (Cooper and Alberts, 1991). The latter... 

Relatively non-volatile materials such as the proteins (10-30kDa) and lipids in the femoral gland secretion of desert iguanas, D. dorsalis, may strongly absorb long-wave ultraviolet (300-500 nm). Desert iguanas actually locate scent marks better under ultraviolet light (Alberts, 1989). 

Alberts, A. C. (1989). Ultraviolet visual sensitivity in desert iguanas implications for pheromone detection. Animal Behaviour 38,129-137. 

McFall-Ngai, M., and J. Horwitz (1990). A comparative study of the thermal stability of the vertebrate eye lens Antarctic fish to the desert iguana. Exp. Eye Res. 50 703-709. 

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