Ctenosaura pectinata is a species of moderately large lizard in the family Iguanidae. The species is native to western Mexico.
Geographic distribution of the three large and wide-ranging species of lizards in the genus Ctenosaura (spinytail iguanas): C. acanthura; C. pectinata; C. similis.
Male showing yellow coloring on the lateral sides of the body, Rio Tamazula, Parque Las Riberas, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico (23 March 2010)
A female from Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico (23 December 2016)
Ctenosaura acanthura, is a species of iguanid lizard found in eastern Mexico and extreme western Guatemala. The standardized English name is the Mexican spiny-tailed iguana. Confusingly however, an earlier edition of standardized names for Mexican herpetofauna called Ctenosaura acanthura the northeastern spinytailed iguana and applied the name Mexican spinytailed 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 in total length.
A Mexican Spiny-tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura acanthura), photographed in-situ in southern Tamaulipas, Mexico
Illustration of Ctenosaura acanthura from 1835