Ctenosaura flavidorsalis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020

Abstract

The Yellow-backed Spiny-tailed Iguana is known from a somewhat large geographic area, however, very little is known about their fine-scale distribution and population size. They are very rare in some localities but believed to be in greater abundance in intact forests. The region’s tropical and subtropical dry forest habitat has been extensively degraded for agriculture, cattle ranching, and urbanization. It is suspected the iguana population has declined in correlation with this habitat loss, however, the exact relationship is unknown and it is likely that most of the reduction occurred more than three generations ago, though habitat destruction is ongoing. These iguanas do not occur in any protected area, have limited legal protection in parts of its range, and suffers from lack of enforcement of existing regulations in others. Iguanas can exist in human-modified areas to some extent, but they are threatened by feral and free-roaming cats and dogs, which is likely to augment natural mortality. The estimated extent of occurrence is 15,952 km2 , meeting the threshold for Vulnerable and it is inferred there must be decline, however, there are not enough data to quantify population size, fragmentation, or the number of locations. The species is therefore assessed as Near Threatened as it almost qualifies for listing as Vulnerable.