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Cachryx defensor COPE, 1866

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Higher TaxaIguanidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Yucatán Spinytail Iguana
S: Garrobo de Yucatán 
SynonymCachryx defensor COPE 1866: 124
Cachryx defensor — BOULENGER 1885: 199
Ctenosaura erythromelas BOULENGER 1886
Cachryx defensor — COPE 1886: 270
Cachryx erythromelas — COPE 1887
Ctenosaura defensor — GÜNTHER 1890
Ctenosaura (Cachryx) annectens WERNER 1910: 25
Ctenosaura erythromelas — BAILEY 1928: 46
Ctenosaura defensor — BAILEY 1928: 48
Enyaliosaurus erythromelas — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950
Enyaliosaurus defensor — DUELLMAN 1965
Enyaliosaurus defensor — DUELLMAN 1966
Enyaliosaurus defensor — POUGH 1973
Ctenosaura defensor — LINER 1994
Ctenosaura defensor — KÖHLER 2000: 75
Ctenosaura (Enyaliosaurus) defensor — KÖHLER et al. 2000
Cachryx defensor — MALONE et al. 2017
Cachryx defensor — HEIMES 2022 
DistributionS Mexico (Campeche, Yucatan, Quintana Roo), Guatemala (Rio Azul)

Type locality: Yucatan. Restricted to Chichén Itzá, Yucatan, Mexico by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 77.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: USNM 12282
Holotype: BMNH [erythromelas] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus). The following characters differentiate Cachryx, with respect to Ctenosaura: Teeth with 5 or more cusps. Modal number of premaxillary teeth, 5. Crista cranii arranged stepwise between frontal and prefrontal. Subdigital lamellae under the first phalanx of the third digit of the pes not fused. Interparietal (scale covering parietal eye) indistinct or absent. Intercalary scales absent or reduced. Conspicuously enlarged, spiniferous scales present on the anterodorsal surface of the femoral and tibial portions of the hind limbs [from Malone et al. 2017]. 
CommentType species: Cachryx defensor COPE 1866: 124 is the type species of the genus Cachryx COPE 1866.

Distribution: the record(s) from Guatemala were originally thought to be C. alfredschmidti but then identified as C. defensor (Malone et al. 2017).

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyThe species was apparently named after the thorny tail, most likely used as a defensive mechanism. 
References
  • Aguilar-López JL, Luría-Manzano R, Pineda E, Canseco-Márquez L 2021. Selva Zoque, Mexico: an important Mesoamerican tropical region for reptile species diversity and conservation. ZooKeys 1054: 127-153 - get paper here
  • Alberts, A.C.; Carter, R.L.; Hayes, W.K. & Martins, E.P. (eds.) 2004. Iguanas - Biology and Conservation. University of California Press, 356 pp. - get paper here
  • Bailey, J. W. 1928. A revision of the lizards of the genus Ctenosaura. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 73 (2733): 1-55. - get paper here
  • Barbour, T., and L. J. Cole. 1906. Vertebrata from Yucatan. Reptilia, Amphibia and Pisces. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 50: 146-159 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1886. Description of a new iguanoid lizard living in the Society's Gardens. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1886: 241 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Buckley, Larry J.; Kevin de Queiroz, Tandora D. Grant, Bradford D. Hollingsworth, John B. Iverson (Chair, <br>Stesha A. Pasachnik, and Catherine L. Stephen (Iguana Taxonomy Working Group, ITWG 2016. A Checklist of the Iguanas of the World (Iguanidae; Iguaninae). Herp. Cons. Biol. 11 (Monograph 6) - get paper here
  • Calderon-Mandujano, R. & Mora-Tembre, L. 2004. New distributional records and comments on amphibians and reptiles from Quintana Roo, Mexico. Herpetological Review 35 (3): 295-296 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1866. Fourth contribution lo the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 18: 123-132 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1886. On the species of Iguaninae. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 23 (122): 261-271 - get paper here
  • Duellman, W.E. 1965. Amphibians and reptiles from the Yucatán Peninsula, México. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist. 15: 577-614. - get paper here
  • Duellman, William E. 1966. The Central American herpetofauna: An ecological perspective. Copeia 1966 (4): 700-719 - get paper here
  • Gil-Escobedo, Johana, Gilberto Salazar-Asencio, Frida Yanes-Morán, Christian Chinchilla-Putzeys, Rony García-Anleu, Seyner Luis-Valenzuela, Walter García, Adriana Echeverría-Méndez & Daniel Ariano Sánchez. 2024. OBSERVATIONS ON THE NESTING BEHAVIOR OF THE YUCATAN SPINY-TAILED IGUANA Cachryx defensor (SQUAMATA: IGUANIDAE) IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT. Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología 7(3): 969 (1–3). - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2022. LIZARDS OF MEXICO - Part 1 Iguanian lizards. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt Am Main, 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 1996. Freilanduntersuchungen zur Morphologie, Verbreitung und Lebensweise des Yucatán-Schwarzleguans (Ctenosaura defensor). Salamandra 32 (3): 153-162 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2000. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd 1: Krokodile, Schildkröten, Echsen. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 158 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2002. Das Leguanportrait: Ctenosaura defensor COPE 1866. Iguana Rundschreiben 15 (2): 6-8
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Köhler, G.; W. Schroth & B. Streit 2000. Systematics of the Ctenosaura group of lizards (Reptilia: Sauria: Iguanidae). Amphibia-Reptilia 21 (2): 177-191 - get paper here
  • Langner, Christian; Beate Pfau, Marta Bernardes, Uwe Gerlach, Felix Hulbert, Mona van Schingen-Khan, Ulrich Schepp, Clara Arranz, Mario Riedling and Axel Kwet 2022. Evaluation of the Captive Breeding Potential of Selected Amphibian and Reptile Taxa Included in Appendices I and II at CITES CoP18 BfN-Skripten 627 - get paper here
  • Lee, J. C. 2000. A field guide to the amphibians and reptiles of the Maya world. Cornell University Press, Ithaca,
  • Lee, J.C. 1996. The amphibians and reptiles of the Yucatán Peninsula. Comstock, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 500 pp.
  • Malone, Catherine L.; Víctor Hugo Reynoso, Larry Buckley 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 - get paper here
  • Norell, Mark & De Queiroz, Kevin 1991. The earliest iguanine lizard (Reptilia, Squamata) and its bearing on iguanine phylogeny. American Museum novitates (2997) - get paper here
  • Pough, F.H. 1973. Lizard Energetics and Diet. Ecology, 54: 837-844 - get paper here
  • SÁNCHEZ-ZAVALEGUI, ROMEO ALEJANDRO; ROGELIO CEDEÑO VÁZQUEZ, CIME RUÍZ MARÍA MARCELA & DÍAZ-GAMBOA LUIS FERNANDO. 2023. NUEVOS REGISTROS DE DISTRIBUCIÓN DE LA IGUANA YUCATECA DE COLA ESPINOSA Cachryx defensor (IGUANIDAE) EN QUINTANA ROO, MÉXICO. Revista Latinoamericana de Herpetología 6(3): e761 (163-166). - get paper here
  • Smith, H.M. & Taylor,E.H. 1950. An annotated checklist and key to the reptiles of Mexico exclusive of the snakes. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 199: 1-253 - get paper here
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
  • Werner,F. 1910. Über neue oder seltene Reptilien des Naturhistorischen Museums in Hamburg. ii. Eidechsen. Jahrb. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst., vol. 27 (1909), suppl. no. 2, 1910, pp. 1-46; reprinted: 1910, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, vol. 27: 205-) - get paper here
 
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