Spiny-tailed Iguana vs. Common Chuckwalla

Both bask on rocks around the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Tucson Mountain Park, west of Tucson. A: Long and tapering, ringed with spiny scales, banded in the Spiny-tailed Iguana; thick and blunt-tipped, no spines in the Common Chuckwalla. B: A ridge of enlarged, pointed scales from the neck down the back in the Spiny-tailed Iguana; no crest; small, granular scales in the Common Chuckwalla. C: Smooth-sided, with dark crossbars in the Spiny-tailed Iguana; loose, baggy folds of skin in the Common Chuckwalla. D: Bright green in the Spiny-tailed Iguana; grey with bold dark crossbands on the body and tail in the Common Chuckwalla. The Spiny-tailed Iguana is introduced and lives only around the Desert Museum; the Chuckwalla is native across western and southern Arizona.

Photographs via iNaturalist under Creative Commons licences; the photographers are credited on the sheet.

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