Original article

A new species of chameleon (Sanria: Chamaeleonidae: Kinyongia) from the Magombera forest and the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania

Published in: African Journal of Herpetology
Volume 58 , issue 2 , 2009 , pages: 59–70

DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2009.9650026

Author(s): Michele Menegon , , Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Italy , KrystalA. Tolley , , South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch Research Centre, South Africa , Trevor Jones , , c/o Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania , Francesco Rovero , , Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Italy , AndrewR. Marshall , , University of York, UK , ColinR. Tilbury , , University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Keywords: Chamaeleonidae , Kinyongia , New Species , Phylogeny , Eastern Arc Mountains , mitochondrial and nuclear DNA

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Abstract

A new species of chameleon Kinyongia magomberae sp. nov. (the Magombera chameleon), is described from Magombera forest and the Vdzungwa Mountains National Park, south-central Tanzania. The species status is supported by phylogenetic analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. The new chameleon is similar to K. tenuis and the more widespread Eastern Arc endemic K. oxyrhina in having a single rostral appendage. However, it can be distinguished from these two species by a shorter rostral appendage, which is different in shape and lacks a movable tip. K. magomberae sp. nov. is known from only two forest localities, the lowland and unprotected Magombera forest and the sub-montane Mwanihana forest within the Vdzungwa Mountains National Park. Phylogenetically, this taxon is sister to K. tenuis, and is part of a clade that also contains K. oxyrhina.

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