OBSERVATIONS ON THE NESTING BEHAVIOR OF THE YUCATAN SPINY-TAILED IGUANA Cachryx defensor (SQUAMATA: IGUANIDAE) IN ITS NATURAL HABITAT

Abstract

We describe the first record of a wild nest of the Yucatan Spiny-tailed Iguana (Cachryx defensor) in its natural habitat, with notes on probable nesting guarding behavior and nest site fidelity. On 22 March 2022, an adult female C. defensor was found inside a shelter in a hollow trunk of a black-sap poisonwood (Metopium brownei), a toxic tree typical of the seasonally dry tropical forest and thorn scrub of Mirador-Rio Azul National Park, in far northern Guatemala. On closer inspection of the shelter, a clutch of three recently laid eggs was found in the trunk cavity above a bed of wood debris inside the hollow trunk. Several egg-shell fragments of what seems to be a clutch from the year before our finding were also observed.