Cape spinytail iguana

Weight

728 g – 2.8 kg

Length

17.3 cm – 40 cm

Lifespan

9.6 years

Diet

Herbivore

Longest recorded lifespan

13 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

desert, shrubland

Young per litter or clutch

24

Age at maturity

3 years

Litters or clutches a year

1

Reproduction

Eggs

Active

By day (diurnal)

Conservation status

Not recorded

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classReptilia
4. orderSquamata
5. familyIguanidae
6. genusCtenosaura
7. SpeciesCtenosaura hemilopha (Cope, 1863)

Synonyms Ctenosaura insulana, Ctenosaura interrupta, Cyclura hemilopha

Catalogue of Life

CompareCape spinytail iguana vs Black iguanaCape spinytail iguana vs SwamperCape spinytail iguana vs Veracruz spiny-tailed iguanaCape spinytail iguana vs Guatemalan black iguana

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@misc{ctenosaura_hemilopha_2026,
  title = {Cape spinytail iguana (Ctenosaura hemilopha)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ctenosaura-hemilopha},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}