Rhampholeon sp.

Conradie, Werner, Bittencourt-Silva, Gabriela B., Engelbrecht, Hanlie M., Loader, Simon P., Menegon, Michele, Nanvonamuquitxo, Cristovao, Scott, Michael & Tolley, Krystal A., 2016, Exploration into the hidden world of Mozambique's sky island forests: new discoveries of reptiles and amphibians, Zoosystematics and Evolution 92 (2), pp. 163-180 : 170

Rhampholeon sp.

Material

Mt. M’pàluwé ( PEM R21202 , female, 45.8 mm SVL; PEM R21203 , female, 57.3 mm SVL; PEM R21204 , female, 44.1 mm SVL; PEM R21205 , female, 65.1 mm SVL; PEM R21206 , female, 56.2 mm SVL; PEM R21207 , female, 40.7 mm SVL; PEM R21208 , male, 34.0 mm SVL; PEM R21209 , female, 61.9 mm SVL; PEM R21210 , male, 37.5 mm SVL) .

Comments

This is the first record of a pygmy chameleon from Mt. Ribuáuè insolates forests (Fig. 4C ). Based on the isolation of all the northern Mozambique inselbergs and high genetic differences reported by Branch et al. (2014), it is highly plausible that this new population represents an undescribed species. Most similar to Rhampholeon tilburyi in external morphology.

Figures

Figure 4. A selection of reptiles from northern Mozambique inselbergs. A - Nadzikambia baylissi (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21165), B - Rhampholeon tilburyi (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21157), C - Rhampholeon sp. (Mt. M'paluwe, PEM R 21209), D - Lygodactylus cf. rex (Mt. Mabu, PEM R 21147), E - Holaspis laevis (Mt. Mabu, PEM R 21146), F - Dipsadoboa cf. shrevei shrevei (Mt. Mabu, PEM R 21123), G - Duberria shirana (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21184), H - Psammophylax variabilis (Mt. Namuli, PEM R 21186).