Rhampholeon Explained

Rhampholeon (from el|ῥάμφος, 'bird's bill' and el|λέον, 'lion')^[1] is a genus of small chameleons, commonly known as pygmy chameleons or African leaf chameleons, found in East Africa and Central Africa. They are found in forests, woodlands, thickets, and savanna, and most species are restricted to highlands. They are brown, grey, or green, and typically seen at low levels in bushes, or on the ground among grasses or leaf litter.

Species

The following 25 species are recognized as being valid.^[2]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Rhampholeon acuminatus	Nguru pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon beraduccii	Beraducci’s pygmy chameleon, Mahenge pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon boulengeri	Boulenger's pygmy chameleon	Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda
	Rhampholeon bruessoworum	Mount Inago pygmy chameleon	Mozambique
	Rhampholeon chapmanorum	Chapmans's pygmy chameleon	Malawi.
	Rhampholeon colemani		Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon gorongosae	Mount Gorongosa pygmy chameleon	Mozambique.
	Rhampholeon hattinghi		Democratic Republic of the Congo.
	Rhampholeon marshalli	Marshall's pygmy chameleon, Marshall's leaf chameleon, Marshall's dwarf chameleon, Marshall's stumptail chameleon	Zimbabwe and Mozambique
	Rhampholeon maspictus	Mount Mabu pygmy chameleon	Mozambique
	Rhampholeon moyeri	Moyer’s pygmy chameleon, Udzungwa pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon nchisiensis	South African stumptail chameleon, Nchisi pygmy chameleon	Malawi and Tanzania
	Rhampholeon nebulauctor	Mount Chiperone pygmy chameleon	Mozambique.
	Rhampholeon nicolai	Nicola’s pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon platyceps	Mount Mulanje pygmy chameleon, Malawi stumptail chameleon	Malawi and Mozambique
	Rhampholeon princeeai	Princeeai’s pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon rubeho	Rubeho’s pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon sabini	Nguu North pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon spectrum	spectral pygmy chameleon, western pygmy chameleon, Cameroon stumptail chameleon	Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea,Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Gabon,
	Rhampholeon spinosus	rosette-nosed pygmy chameleon	Tanzania
	Rhampholeon temporalis	Usambara stumptail chameleon, East Usambara pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon tilburyi	Mount Namuli pygmy chameleon	Mozambique.
	Rhampholeon uluguruensis	Uluguru pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon viridis	green pygmy chameleon	Tanzania.
	Rhampholeon waynelotteri		Tanzania.

Nota bene

A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Rhampholeon.

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. ... Chamæleontidæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Genus Rhampholeon, p. 475).
• Branch WR (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. . (Genus Rhampholeon, p. 228).
• Pygmy chameleons of the Rhampholeon platyceps (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae): Description of four new species from isolated 'sky islands' of northern Mozambique . Branch WR, Bayliss J, Tolley KA . Zootaxa . 2014 . 3814 . 3814 . 1–36 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3814.1.1. 24943411 .
• Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology: Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company. xi + 378 pp. . (Genus Rhampholeon, p. 289).
• Günther A (1874). "Descriptions of some new or imperfectly known Species of Reptiles from the Camaroon [sic] Mountains". Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1874: 442-445. (Rhampholeon, new genus, p. 444).
• Book: Spawls S, Drewes R, Ashe J . A Field Guide to the Reptiles of East Africa . Academic Press . 2002 . Köln . 0-12-656470-1 .
• Book: Tilbury, Colin . Chameleons of Africa, An Atlas including the chameleons of Europe, the Middle East and Asia . Edition Chimaira . 2010 . Frankfurt .

Notes and References

1. Book: Hunter . Robert . Morris . Charles . The Modern world dictionary of the English language ... to which is added a compendium of historical, biographical, geographical, scientific, religious, and sociological names, and a complete summary of human achievement in the nineteenth & twentieth centuries .. . 1906 . New York : P.F. Collier & Son . 3999 .
2. "Rhampholeon ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.