Ctenosaura Explained

Ctenosaura is a lizard genus commonly known as spinytail iguanas or ctenosaurs. The genus is part of the large lizard family Iguanidae and is native to Mexico and Central America. The name is derived from two Greek words: Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κτενός, meaning "comb" (referring to the comblike spines on the lizard's back and tail), and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: σαύρα, meaning "lizard".

Description

The species range in size (total length, including the tail) from about 12.5cm (04.9inches) to well over 1m (03feet). The distinctive feature of this genus is the presence of enlarged, spiny scales on the tail.

Ecology and natural history

Ctenosaurs are generally omnivorous, feeding on fruits, flowers, foliage, and small animals.

While studying physiological correlates of locomotion in lizards, a "burst speed" of 34.6 km/h (21.5 miles/h) was recorded by a black spiny-tail iguana (Ctenosaura similis), which is the highest speed reported for a lizard.^[1]

Captivity

C. pectinata, C. similis, and C. quinquecarinata are popular as pets.

Invasive species

At least two species, Ctenosaura pectinata and Ctenosaura similis, have been introduced into southern areas of Texas and Florida.^[2] They are also now in southern Arizona.

Species

The genus Ctenosaura represents the most diverse group of iguanas with 15 currently recognized species and at least two unrecognized species.^[3] These species inhabit lowland dry forests, woodlands and semi-open habitats, below 1200m (3,900feet) elevation, on both coasts of Mexico and Central America.^[3] The species in the genus Ctenosaura belong in several different clades.^[3] Closely related species show allopatry whereas species from divergent clades show sympatry.^[3] Until 2017, the two species of Cachryx were included in Ctenosaura.^[4]

Image	Species	Common name	Authority	Geographic range
	Ctenosaura acanthura	Mexican spiny-tailed iguana^[5]	(Shaw, 1802)^[6]	Eastern Mexico
	Ctenosaura bakeri	Baker's spinytail iguana	Stejneger, 1901^[7]	Utila island off Honduras
	Ctenosaura clarki	Michoacan club tail	Bailey, 1928^[8]	Western Mexico
	Ctenosaura conspicuosa	Isla San Esteban spiny-tailed iguana	Dickerson, 1919^[9]	San Esteban Island, Gulf of California
	Ctenosaura flavidorsalis	yellowback spinytail iguana	G. Köhler & Klemmer, 1994	Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala
	Ctenosaura hemilopha	cape spiny-tail iguana	(Cope, 1863)^[10]	Southern half of Baja California, Mexico
	Ctenosaura macrolopha	Sonora spiny-tailed iguana	Smith, H. M. 1972^[11]	Sonora, Mexico
	Ctenosaura melanosterna	black-chested spinytail iguana	Buckley & Axtell, 1997	Honduras
	Ctenosaura nolascensis	Isla San Pedro Nolasco spiny-tailed iguana	Smith, H. M. 1972	San Pedro Nolasco Island, Gulf of California
	Ctenosaura oaxacana	Oaxacan spiny-tail iguana	G. Köhler & Hasbún, 2001^[12]	Oaxaca, Mexico
	Ctenosaura oedirhina	Roatán spinytail iguana	de Queiroz, 1987	Roatán, Honduras
	Ctenosaura palearis	Guatemalan spinytail iguana	Stejneger, 1899	Guatemala
	Ctenosaura pectinata	western spiny-tail iguana	(Wiegmann, 1834)^[13]	Western Mexico. Introduced to southern areas of Texas and Florida.
	Ctenosaura quinquecarinata	club tail iguana	Gray, 1842^[14]	Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
	Ctenosaura similis	black spiny-tail iguana	(Gray, 1831)^[15]	Mexico and Central America; reported in some Colombian islands, introduced to southern Florida.

Further reading

• Frost DR, Etheridge RE (1989). "A Phylogenetic Analysis and Taxonomy of Iguanian Lizards (Reptilia: Squamata)". Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist. Misc. Publ. 81.
• Frost DR, Etheridge R, Janies D, Titus TA (2001). "Total evidence, sequence alignment, evolution of Polychrotid lizards, and a reclassification of the Iguania (Squamata: Iguania)". American Museum Novitates (3343): 1-38.

External links

• • Garland T Jr (1984). "Physiological correlates of locomotory performance in a lizard: an allometric approach". American J. Physiol. 247 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 16): R806-R815. PDF
• IIF Announces Fundraising Campaign
• Spiny Tailed Iguana Pictures
• West Coast Iguana Research

Notes and References

1. Garland, Theodore., Jr. 1984. Physiological correlates of locomotory performance in a lizard: an allometric approach. American Journal of Physiology. 247: 806–815.
2. [Robert Powell (herpetologist)|Robert Powell]
3. Buckley . Larry . Pagel . Katelyn . Villela . Oscar . 2007 . Evolution of Spiny-tailed Iguanas (Genus Ctenosaura): How Identification of Species Groups and their Relationships Can Help with Conservation Priorities . Iguana: Journal of the International Iguana Society . 14 . 4. 248–251 .
4. Malone . C.L. . Reynoso . V.H. . Buckley . L. . 2017 . Never judge an iguana by its spines: Systematics of the Yucatan spiny tailed iguana, Ctenosaura defensor (Cope, 1866) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 115 . 27–39 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.07.010 . 28716742 .
5. Liner, E. A. and G. Casas-Andreu. 2008. Standard Spanish, English and scientific names of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico Society for the Study Amphibians and Reptiles. Herpetological Circular 38: i-iv, 1-162. (pages 58-59)
6. Shaw, G. 1802. General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol.3, part 2. G. Kearsley, Thomas Davison, London: 313-615.
7. Stejneger, Leonhard 1901. On a new species of spiny-tailed iguana from Utilla Island, Honduras. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 23 (1217): 467-468
8. Bailey, J. W. 1928. A revision of the lizards of the genus Ctenosaura. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 73 (2733): 1-55
9. Dickerson, M. C. 1919. Diagnoses of Twenty-Three New Species and a New Genus of Lizards from Lower California. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 41 (10): 461-477.
10. Cope, E.D. 1863. Descriptions of new American Squamata in the Museum of the Smtihsonian Institution. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 15 [1863]: 100-106
11. Smith,H.M. 1972. The sonoran subspecies of the lizard Ctenosaura hemilopha. Great Basin Naturalist 32 (2): 104-111.
12. Köhler, G. & C.R. Hasbun 2001. A new species of spiny-tailed iguana from Mexico formerly referred to Ctenosaura quinquecarinata (Gray 1842) (Reptilia, Squamata, Iguanidae). Senckenbergiana biologica 81: 257-267
13. Wiegmann, A.F.A. 1834. Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum novae hispaniae, quae itineribus comitis de Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede im Museum Zoologicum Berolinense Pervenerunt. Pars prima, saurorum species. Berlin, Lüderitz, iv + 54 pp.
14. Gray, J. E. 1842. Description of some new species of Reptiles, chiefly from the British Museum collection. Zoological Miscellany 2: 57-59.
15. Gray, J. E. 1831 [1830]. A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E & E. Pidgeon: The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed. V Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London: 481 + 110 pp.