Dirk Bender was convicted "of having altered the local ecosystem of the archipelago," park authorities said.

The Galapagos National Park has requested the maximum four-year jail term for Bender, who should be sentenced in the coming days.

Bender was arrested at the airport on Baltra Island on July 8 after park officials noticed him carrying a suspicious package, which was found to contain four lizards wrapped in canvas.

The hidden reptiles were Galapagos Land Iguanas (conolophus subcristatus), which the International Union for Conservation of Nature ranks as "vulnerable" on its Red List of Threatened Species.