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Issue: Vol. 2554 No. 1: 30 Jul. 2010
Type: Articles
Published: 2010-07-30
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2554.1.5
Page range: 62–64
Abstract views: 41
PDF downloaded: 1

Molecular phylogeography of a widespread Malagasy leaf chameleon species, Brookesia superciliaris

Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany Département de Biologie Animale, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906. Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Département de Biologie Animale, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906. Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Département de Biologie Animale, Université d'Antananarivo, BP 906. Antananarivo, 101 Madagascar Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Zoologia e Citologia, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy
Grewcock´s Center for Conservation Research, Omaha´s Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 South 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68107-2200, United States
Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Reptilia Brookesia superciliaris chameleon

Abstract

Chameleons of the Madagascan endemic genus Brookesia Gray are small to extremely small reptiles with a mostly terrestrial lifestyle, and due to their low mobility and their camouflage they are nearly invisible in the leaf litter of Madagascar's forests. The genus Brookesia is widely distributed (except in the arid south and south-west) but many Brookesia species are restricted to a relatively small area of the island (Glaw & Vences 2007). Speciation has been most prolific in the northern parts of Madagascar, an area that currently host about two-thirds of the 27 nominal Brookesia species (Raxworthy & Nussbaum 1995; Glaw & Vences 2007; Townsend et al. 2009).

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