NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Northeastern Spinytail Iguana
Ctenosaura acanthura (Shaw, 1802)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Nyíregyháza Zoo, Black iguana
Photo by Szilas in Nyíregyháza Zoo · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Ctenosaura acanthura, is a species of lizard in the family Iguanidae. The species is native to eastern Mexico and extreme western Guatemala. The standardized English name is the Mexican spiny-tailed iguana (Spanish: el garrobo del noreste). Confusingly however, an earlier edition of standardized names for Mexican herpetofauna called C. acanthura the northeastern spiny-tailed iguana and applied the name Mexican spiny-tailed iguana to Ctenosaura pectinata, which was called the western spiny-tailed iguana in the second edition. It has also been referred to as the Veracruz spiny-tailed iguana and Gulf Coast spiny-tailed iguana. It is an egg laying species that is mostly herbivorous and a moderately large lizard commonly growing over one meter (3.3 feet) in total length (tail included).
Wikipedia contributors, Ctenosaura acanthura; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:06:17.069149+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ctenosaura acanthura (Shaw, 1802)
- Name authority
- (Shaw, 1802)
- Common name
- Northeastern Spinytail Iguana
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Iguanidae
- Genus
- Ctenosaura
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderIguania
- familyIguanidae
- genusCtenosaura
- speciesCtenosaura acanthura (Shaw, 1802)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ctenosaura. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| San Esteban Spinytail IguanaCtenosaura conspicuosa Dickerson, 1919 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yellow-backed Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura flavidorsalis Köhler & Klemmer, 1994 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Baja California Spiny- tailed IguanaCtenosaura hemilopha (Cope, 1863) | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Nolasco Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura nolascensis Smith, 1972 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oaxaca Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura oaxacana Köhler & Hasbun, 2001 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Roatan Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura oedirhina de Queiroz, 1987 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Guerreran Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura pectinata (Wiegmann, 1834) | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Five-keeled Spiny-tailed IguanaCtenosaura quinquecarinata (Gray, 1842) | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Black IguanaCtenosaura similis (Gray, 1831) | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Baker's Spinytail IguanaCtenosaura bakeri Stejneger, 1901 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Balsas Armed LizardCtenosaura clarki Bailey, 1928 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cape Spinytail IguanaCtenosaura macrolopha Smith, 1972 | IguanidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Cyclura semicristata Fitzinger, 1843 Fitzinger, 1843 | synonym |
| Lacerta acanthura Shaw, 1802 Shaw, 1802 | synonym |
| Iguana | synonym |
| Ctenosaura multispinis Cope, 1886 Cope, 1886 | synonym |
| Cyclura teres Harlan, 1825 Harlan, 1825 | synonym |
| Cyclura shawii Gray Gray | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Ctenosaura&species=acanthura Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3275Y. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.