Five new chameleon species discovered in Central Africa

An international team of researchers from Germany, the USA, Uganda, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo has discovered five new stump-tailed chameleons of the genusRhampholeon discovered and scientifically described in rainforests along the Central African Rift Valley. PD Dr Maximilian Dehling from theBiology division of the University of Koblenz.

Dehling has been studying the diversity of amphibians and reptiles in Central Africa for 14 years. The new chameleon species can hardly be distinguished from each other externally and were therefore previously recognised as a single widespread species (Rhampholeon boulengeri) were considered. DNA analyses and detailed morphological comparisons showed that different populations are indeed independent species.

The new species,Rhampholeon plumptrei,R. nalubaale,R. bombayi,R. msitugrabensis andR. monteslunaeoccur at different altitudes and in various rainforest areas from the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda to western Kenya. The six different species now have only small distribution areas and could therefore be more endangered than previously assumed.

This emphasises the need for biodiversity studies in the little-studied rainforests of Central Africa. With their light brown to grey-brown colouring and their body shape, stump-tailed chameleons imitate foliage on the forest floor. They are capable of slight changes in brightness, but not of colour changes like other chameleons.

The study on the new chameleon species was published in the international journal "Zootaxa": Hughes, D. F., Behangana, M., Lukwago, W., Menegon, M., Dehling, J. M., Wagner, P., Tilbury, C. R., South T., Kusamba, C. & Greenbaum, E. (2024) Taxonomy of the Rhampholeon boulengeri complex (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae): Five new species from Central Africa's Albertine Rift. - Zootaxa 5458: 451-494.