Karoo Dwarf Chameleon

Karoo Dwarf Chameleon
Karoo Dwarf Chameleon
Conservation status
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Family: Chamaeleonidae
Subfamily: Chamaeleoninae
Genus: Bradypodion
Species: B. karrooicum
Binomial name
Bradypodion karrooicum
(Methuen & Hewitt, 1915)
Synonyms

Bradypodion pumilus karrooicus (Methuen & Hewitt, 1915) Chamaeleo pumilus karrooicus

The Karoo Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodion karrooicum) is a chameleon native to South Africa. It is about 14 cm (6 inches) long, mostly colored grey and brown, sometimes olive. The thin skin around the throat is yellow, and it has conical scales along the spine.

It inhabits rather dry habitat on the border between the Great and Little Karoo of eastern Northern Cape and western Free State provinces, South Africa.

This animal is occasionally considered a subspecies of the Cape Dwarf Chameleon (e.g. Klaver & Böhme 1997), but among the South African dwarf chameleons, these two are by no means closely related. Rather, the Karoo Dwarf Chameleon belongs to a group of mostly short-tailed drab Bradypodion species which mostly inhabit semiarid to arid habitat. Its closest living relatives among these appear to be the peculiar and nearly extinct Smith's Dwarf Chameleon from mountaineous habitat, and especially the Southern Dwarf Chameleon. The Karoo Dwarf Chameleon may actually be a subspecies of the latter; there appears to be significant gene flow between the two.(Tolley et al. 2004)

References

  • Klaver, C.J.J. & Böhme, W. (1997): Liste der rezenten Amphibien und Reptilien - Chamaeleonidae. Das Tierreich 112: i-xiv, 1-85.
  • Tolley, Krystal A.; Tilbury, Colin R.; Branch, William R. & Matthee, Conrad A. (2004): Phylogenetics of the southern African dwarf chameleons, Bradypodion (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30: 354–365. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00211-2 PDF fulltext

External links

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