iNaturalist Observations Indicate Piebaldism in Iguana iguana Could Be a Regional Color Morph: Response to López and Mora (2025)

Here we use the citizen science platform iNaturalist to assess the rarity of the color abnormality from an Iguana iguana individual reported by López and Mora (2025). Our assessment of the coloration of over 8,000 I. iguana records from Costa Rica and western Panama reveals that the reported abnormality, suggested to be piebaldism, is far more common than indicated. We identify 390 records that show iguanas with piebaldism, which mostly originate from the mid- and south-Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We find that piebaldism occurs in both sexes, and appears to be mostly restricted to adults, with only a few records from subadults and young adults. The identification of one record from a juvenile iguana suggests a potential ontogenetic development of this color abnormality, which is known from the iguanid Ctenosaura oedirhina. Although not all iguanas within the region have piebaldism, our data suggest this concerns a regional color morph. We propose that researchers from the region perform a detailed study on the distribution and diversity of this color abnormality, as well as the underlying genetic, cellular, and physiological conditions. Overall, we show that citizen science platforms can aid the understanding of potential unique in-situ observations, and recommend naturalists to evaluate their observations using such platforms.