The desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) is one of the most common lizards of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. They also occur on several Gulf of California islands.
The species was first described in the Catalog of North American Reptiles, by Spencer Fullerton Baird and Charles Frédéric Girard) in 1853 as Crotaphytus dorsalis it was reclassified two years later as Dipsosaurus dorsalis by E...
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The desert iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) is one of the most common lizards of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. They also occur on several Gulf of California islands.
The species was first described in the Catalog of North American Reptiles, by Spencer Fullerton Baird and Charles Frédéric Girard) in 1853 as Crotaphytus dorsalis it was reclassified two years later as Dipsosaurus dorsalis by Edward Hallowell. The generic name comes from a combination of two Greek words meaning "thirsty lizard": "Dipsa" (δίψα) for "thirsty", and "sauros" (σαῦρος) for "lizard". The specific name, "dorsalis", comes from the Latin word dorsum meaning "back", in reference to a row of enlarged keeled scales on the middle of the lizard's back which form a crest that extends almost to the tip of its tail. Dipsosaurus is a monotypic genus with D. dorsalis being its only recognized species.
The desert iguana is a blunt, medium-sized lizard which grows to 16...
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