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#1701 · 🦎 reptiles

Desert Iguana

🇳🇱 Woestijnleguaan ·Dipsosaurus dorsalis

LCleast concern 🦎 Reptiles 📍 outside Europe
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
  1. 1. © saemerso · CC BY-NC 4.0
  2. 2. © frankf · CC BY-NC 4.0
  3. 3. © Diana · CC BY 4.0
  4. 4. © uzun · CC BY-NC 4.0
  5. 5. © Bill Levine · CC BY 4.0
  6. 6. © Will Richardson · CC BY-NC 4.0
  7. 7. © Tom Benson · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
  8. 8. © uzun · CC BY-NC 4.0
Desert Iguana, photo 1 of 8
1/8 © saemerso · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

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. Their color is mostly grey and tan.

base stats

  • NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
  • worldwide 8,981iNaturalist observations
  • threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

  • No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
  • 8,981 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
  • Scientifically named by Charles Frédéric Girard in 1852 (174 years ago).

fact sheet

English
Desert Iguana
Nederlands
Woestijnleguaan
scientific name
Dipsosaurus dorsalis
class
Reptilia
order
Squamata
family
Iguanidae
IUCN Red List
LC · least concern
sightings in NL
0
sightings worldwide
8,981
GBIF records in NL
0
weight
—
length
—
lifespan
—
named
1852 by Charles Frédéric Girard

IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.

relatives· Iguanidae

Sources: iNaturalist taxon 35356, Wikidata Q912330, GBIF 2459646, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.

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