Flag of Tenerife Tenerife as Nivaria, derived from the Latin words "nix", "nivis" or "nives", meaning snow, in clear reference to the snow-covered peak of the Teide volcano. The name of Tenerife is derived from the language of the Benehaorits - the natives of nearby La Palma. "Tene" means "mountain" and "ife" means "white". After colonisation by Spain, the letter "r" was added, uniting both words. The flag was first adopted as a maritime registry flag of the maritime province of the Canary Islands. It was initially adopted in 1845 by Royal Order and was adopted as the flag of Tenerife by an
Gallotia 2010). Finally, the clade that colonized the younger western islands was likely to have originated from Lanzarote/Fuerteventura. This western island clade diverged into two groups, all of which colonized Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, leading to 1) a medium-bodied (e.g., "G. caesaris" from El Hierro) and 2) a large bodied "giant" species (e.g., "G. simonyi" from El Hierro) on each of these islands (note that "G. intermedia" from Tenerife belongs to the "giant" group, but present-day individuals are not that large). The giant species now exist, at best, in small relict populations, while "G. auritae" may be