Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2006-11-23
Page range: 23–38
Abstract views: 52
PDF downloaded: 1

A review of the systematics of the genus Bradypodion (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae), with the description of two new genera

No. 2 The Bend, P.O. Box 347, Nottingham Road, 3280, KZN, South Africa Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Molecular Systematics Laboratory, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, P/Bag X7, Claremont 7735 South Africa Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Port Elizabeth Museum, P.O. Box 13147, Humewood 6013, South Africa
Reptilia Chamaeleonidae Bradypodion Phylogeny new genera mitochondrial and nuclear DNA

Abstract

The taxonomic history and composition of the genus Bradypodion as construed by Klaver & Böhme (1986) and new morphological and molecular data relevant to the taxonomy of the group is reviewed. The combined evidence strongly supports a formal rearrangement of the group into three distinct genera. Bradypodion, type species Chamaeleo pumilus Daudin 1802, is retained for the southern African species. Two new genera are erected to accommodate additional well-diagnosed clades within central and east African species previously referred to Bradypodion. Species of the “fischeri complex” are assigned to Kinyongia gen. nova, whilst the endemic Mulanje chameleon is placed in the monotypic genus Nadzikambia gen. nova.

References

  1. Bauer, A.M. (1997) Peritoneal pigmentation and generic allocation in the Chamaeleonidae. African Journal of Herpetology, 46, 117–122.

    Beddard, F.E. (1907) Contributions to the knowledge of the systematic arrangement and anatomy of certain genera and species of Squamata. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1907, 35–45.

    Böhme, W. & Klaver, C. J. J. (1990) Zur Kenntnis von Bradypodion uthmoelleri (Mller, 1938). Salamandra, 26, 260–266.

    Boulenger, G. A. (1887) Catalogue of Lizards in the British Museum (Natural history), III, London.

    Branch, W.R. (1998) Field Guide to the Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. rev. ed. Struiks Publ., Cape Town, 399pp., 112 col. pls.

    Branch, W.R., Tolley, K.A., & Tilbury, C.R. (2006) A new Dwarf Chameleon (Sauria: Bradypodion Fitzinger 1843) from the Cape Fold Mountains, South Africa. African Journal of Herpetology, in press.

    Broadley, D.G. (1965) A new chameleon from Malawi. Arnoldia (Rhod.), 1(32), 1–3.

    Brock, G.T. (1941) The skull of the chameleon Lophosaura ventralis (Gray): some developmental stages. Proceedings of the Zoological Society (London), 110, 69–137.

    De Quieroz, K. (1987) Phylogenetic systematics of iguanine lizards. A comparative osteological study. University of California Publication, Zoology, 118, 1–203.

    Engelbrecht, D.van Z. (1951) Contributions to the cranial morphology of the chameleon Microsaura pumila Daudin. Annals of the University of Stellenbosch, (A), 27, 4–31.

    FitzSimons, V.F.M. (1943) The Lizards of South Africa, Memoirs of the Transvaal Museum, 1, 1–538.

    Fitzinger, L.J. (1843) Systema Reptilium Auctore Leopoldo Fitzinger. Vindobonnae (Vienna).

    Gray, J. E. (1864) Revision of the genera and species of Chamaeleonidae with the description of some new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society (London), 1864, 465–479.

    Hillenius, D. (1959) The differentiation within the genus Chamaeleo Laurenti 1768. Beaufortia, 8, 1–92.

    Hillenius, D. (1986) The relationship of Brookesia, Rhampholeon and Chamaeleo (Chamaeleonidae, Reptilia). Bijdragen tot de dierkunde, 56, 29–38.

    Hillenius, D. (1988) The skull of Chamaeleo nasutus adds more information to the relationship of Chamaeleo with Rhampholeon and Brookesia (Chamaeleonidae, Reptilia). Bijdragen tot de dierkunde, 58, 7–11.

    Hofman, A., Maxson, L.R. & Arntzen, J.W. (1991) Biochemical evidence pertaining to the taxonomic relationships within the family Chamaeleonidae. Amphibia-Reptilia, 12, 245–265.

    Huelsenbeck, J.P. & Ronquist, F. (2001) MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogeny. Bioinformatics, 17, 754–755.

    Klaver, C.J.J. (1973) Lung anatomy: aid in chameleon taxonomy. Beaufortia, 20, 155–177.

    Klaver, C.J.J. (1979) A review of Brookesia systematics with special reference to lung morphology, Bonner zoologische Beitrge, 1–2 (30), 163–175.

    Klaver, C.J.J. (1981) Lung morphology in the Chamaeleonidae (Sauria) and its bearing on phylogeny, systematics and zoogeography. Zeitschrift zoologische Systematic Evolutionforschung, 19, 36–58.

    Klaver, C.J.J. & Böhme, W. (1988) Systematics of Bradypodion tenue (Matschie, 1892) (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae) with a description of a new species from the Uluguru and Uzungwe mountains, Tanzania. Bonner zoologische Beitrge, 39, 381–393.

    Klaver, C.J.J. & Böhme, W. (1986) Phylogeny and classification of the Chamaeleonidae (Sauria) with special reference to hemipenis morphology. Bonner zoologische Monographisce 22, 1–64.

    Laurenti, J.N. (1768). Specimen medicum exhibens Synopsis Reptilium emendatum cum Experimentis circa Venena et Antidota Reptilium Austriacorum. pp. 1–214, 5 pl. Vienna.

    Loveridge, A. (1957) Checklist of the Reptiles and Amphibians of East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar), Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 117 153–362.

    Lutzman, N. & Nečas, P. (2002) Zum Status von Bradypodion tavetanum (Steindachner, 1891) aus den Taita Hills, Kenia, mit Beschreibung einer neuen Unterart (Reptilia: Sauria: Chamaeleonidae). Salamandra, 38, 5–14.

    Malan, M.E. (1946) Contributions to the comparative anatomy of the nasal capsule and the organ of Jacobsen of the Lacertilia. Annals of the University of Stellenbosch, (A), 24, 69–137.

    Matthee C.A., Tilbury C.R. & Townsend T. (2004) A phylogenetic review of the African leaf chameleons: genus Rhampholeon (Chamaeleonidae): the role of vicariance and climate change in speciation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 271, 1967–1976.

    Mertens, R. (1966) Chamaeleonidae. Das Tierreich, Berlin , 83, 1–37.

    Methuen, P.A. & Hewitt, J. (1914) A contribution to our knowledge of the anatomy of chamaeleons. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 4 (2), 89–104.

    Nečas, P. (2004) Chamaeleo (Trioceros) harennae fitchi (Reptilia: Sauria: Chamaeleonidae), ein neues Chameleon aus dem ethiopischen Hochland, Sauria, 26, 3–9.

    Nečas, P., Modry, D. & Slapeta, J.R. (2003) Chamaeleo (Trioceros) narraioca n. sp. (Reptilia Chamaeleonidae), a new species from a relict montane forest of Mount Kulal, nothern Kenya. Tropical Zoology, 16, 1–12.

    Parker, W.K. (1881) On the structure of the skull in chameleons, Transactions of the Royal Society, London, 11, 77–105.

    Posada, D. & Crandall, K.A. (1998) Modeltest: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics, 14, 817–818.

    Raw, L.R.G. (1976) A survey of the dwarf chameleons of Natal, South Africa, with descriptions of three new species (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae), Durban Museum Novitates, 11, 139–161.

    Rieppel, O. (1981) The skull and jaw adductor musculature in chameleons, Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 88, 433–445.

    Rieppel, O. (1987) The phylogenetic relationships within the Chamaeleonidae, with comments on some aspects of cladistic analysis, Zoolological Journal of the Linnean Society, 89, 41–62.

    Rieppel, O. & Crumley, C. (1997) Paedomorphosis and skull structure in Malagasy chamaeleons (Reptilia: Chamaeleoninae), Journal of Zoology (London), 243, 351–380.

    Ronquist, F. & Huelsenbeck, J. P. (2003) MRBAYES 3: Bayesian phylogenetic inference under mixed models. Bioinformatics, 19, 1572–1574.

    Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP* Phylogeny analysis using parsimony (*and other methods), version 4.0b10. Sinauer Association, Inc., Sutherland, MA, USA.

    Tilbury, C.R. (1991) A new species of Chamaeleo Laurenti 1768 (Reptilia Chamaeleonidae) from a relict montane forest in northern Kenya, Tropical Zoology, 4, 159–165.

    Tilbury, C.R. (1998) Two new chameleons (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae) from isolated Afromontane forests in Sudan and Ethiopia, Bonner zoologische Beitrge, 47, 293–299.

    Tolley, K.A., Tilbury, C.R., Branch, W.R. & Matthee, C.A. (2004) Phylogenetics of the Southern African dwarf chameleons, Bradypodion (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 30, 354–365.

    Tolley, K.A., Tilbury, C.R., Branch, W.R. & Matthee, C.A. (2005) The dwarfs of Africa: taxonomy, distribution and diversity of dwarf chameleons (Bradypodion sensu lato). In Abstracts, Fifth World Conference of Herpetology, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2005, pp. 156.

    Tolley, K.A., Burger, M., Turner, A.A. & Matthee, C.A. (2006) Biogeographic patterns and phylogeography of dwarf chameleons (Bradypodion) in an African biodiversity hotspot, Molecular Ecology, 15, 781–793.

    Townsend, T. & Larson, A. (2002) Molecular phylogenetics and mitochondrial genomic evolution in the Chamaeleonidae (Reptilia, Squamata), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 23, 22–36.

    Werner, F. (1902) Prodromus einer Monographie der Chamleonten. Zoologische Jahrbücher, Systematische, 15, 295–460.