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Story: Pacific migrations

Fossil remains of the giant iguana Lapitiguana impensa

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Fossil remains of the giant iguana <em>Lapitiguana impensa </em>

The pelvic bone of the extinct giant iguana is pictured here with the much smaller pelvic bone from a still-living iguana species. The giant iguana’s remains were found in sediments on the main Fijian island of Viti Levu. This iguana would have measured around half a metre from the tip of its snout to its vent. It is thought that it became extinct shortly after human arrival in Fiji – around 3,000 years ago.

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Palaeofaunal Surveys

by Jim Palmer and T. H. Worthy

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How to cite this page

Geoff Irwin, Pacific migrations – Into Remote Oceania: Lapita people, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4234/fossil-remains-of-the-giant-iguana-lapitiguana-impensa (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Geoff Irwin, published 4 March 2009, updated 8 February 2017.