Rhampholeon

Rhampholeon spectrum

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Acrodonta

Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Amorphea Cladus: Obazoa Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Cladus: Filozoa Cladus: Choanozoa Regnum: Animalia Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Cladus: Olfactores Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Cladus: Eugnathostomata Cladus: Osteichthyes Cladus: Sarcopterygii Cladus: Rhipidistia Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes Cladus: Elpistostegalia Cladus: Stegocephali Superclassis: Tetrapoda Cladus: Reptiliomorpha Cladus: Amniota Cladus: Sauropsida Classis: Reptilia Cladus: Eureptilia Cladus: Romeriida Cladus: Diapsida Cladus: Neoreptilia Cladus: Parapleurota Cladus: Neodiapsida Cladus: Sauria Cladus: Lepidosauromorpha Superordo: Lepidosauria Ordo: Squamata Cladus: Toxicofera Subordo: Iguania Infraordo: Acrodonta

Familia: Chamaeleonidae
Subfamilia: Chamaeleoninae
Genus: Rhampholeon
Subgenera (3): R. (Bicuspis) – R. (Rhampholeon) – R. (Rhinodigitum)
Species overview (30): R. acuminatus – R. beraduccii – R. bombayi – R. boulengeri – R. bruessoworum – R. chapmanorum – R. colemani – R. gorongosae – R. hattinghi – R. marshalli – R. maspictus – R. monteslunae – R. moyeri – R. msitugrabensis – R. nalubaale – R. nchisiensis – R. nebulauctor – R. nicolai – R. platyceps – R. plumptrei – R. princeeai – R. rubeho – R. sabini – R. spectrum – R. spinosus – R. temporalis – R. tilburyi – R. uluguruensis – R. viridis – R. waynelotteri

Name

Rhampholeon Günther, 1874: 443

• Type species: Chamaeleo spectrum Buchholz, 1874, by monotypy.

Synonyms

• Bicuspis Loveridge, 1956: 2 [as subgenus]
  • Type species: Rhampholeon marshalli Boulenger, 1906, by original designation.
• Rhinodigitum Matthee, Tilbury & Townsend, 2004: 1973 [as subgenus]
  • Type species: Rhampholeon platyceps Günther, 1893, by original designation.

References

Primary references

• Günther, A. 1874. Description of some new or imperfectly known species of Reptiles from the Cameroon Mountains. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1874: 442–445. BHL
• Loveridge, A. 1956. A new subgenus of Chamaeleo from Rhodesia and new race of Mabuya from Kenya Colony. Breviora 59: 1–4. BHL
• 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 B (Biological Sciences) 271(1551): 1967–1975. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2806 Reference page. 

Additional references

• Tilbury, C.R. & Emmrich, D. 1996. A new dwarf forest chameleon (Squamata: Rhampholeon Günther 1874) from Tanzania, East Africa with notes on its infrageneric and zoogeographic relationships. Tropical Zoology 9(1): 61–71. DOI: 10.1080/03946975.1996.10539303 Reference page. 
• Menegon, M., Salvidio, S. & Tilbury, C. 2002. A New Dwarf Forest Chameleon from the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania, East Africa, (Squamata: Rhampholeon Günther, 1874). Journal of Herpetology 36(1): 51–57. DOI: 10.2307/1565801 Reference page. 
• Tilbury, C.R. & Mariaux, J. 2004. A re-evaluation of the generic assignment of Bradypodion spinosum (Matschie, 1892) and some considerations on the genus Rhampholeon Günther, 1874. Revue suisse de Zoologie 111(1): 103–110. BHL Reference page. 
• Mariaux, J. & Tilbury, C.R. 2006. The pygmy chameleons of the eastern Arc range (Tanzania): Evolutionary relationships and the description of three new species of Rhampholeon (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae). Herpetological Journal 16(3): 315–331. PDF Reference page. 
• Fisseha, M., Mariaux, J. & Menegon, M. 2013. The “Rhampholeon uluguruensis complex” (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae) and the taxonomic status of the pygmy chameleons in Tanzania. Zootaxa 3746(3): 439–453. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3746.3.3 Reference page. 
• Branch, W.R., Bayliss, J. & Tolley, K.A. 2014. Pygmy chameleons of the Rhampholeon platyceps complex (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae): Description of four new species from isolated ‘sky islands’ of northern Mozambique. Zootaxa 3814(1): 1–36. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3814.1.1 Reference page. 
• Tilbury, C.R. & Tolley, K.A. 2015. Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Albertine Rift: Two new species of chameleon (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae) from an isolated montane forest, south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Zootaxa 3905(3): 345–364. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3905.3.2 Reference page. 
• Menegon, M., Lyakurwa, J.V., Loader, S.P. & Tolley, K.A. 2022. Cryptic diversity in pygmy chameleons (Chamaeleonidae: Rhampholeon) of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania, with description of six new species. Acta Herpetologica 17(2): 85–113. DOI: 10.36253/a_h-12978 Reference page. 
• 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(4): 451–494. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5458.4.1 Reference page. 

Links

• Uetz, P., Freed, P., Aguilar, R., F. Reyes, J. Kudera & Hošek, J. (eds.) 2026. Rhampholeon . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 1 March 2026.

Vernacular names

• English: African Leaf Chameleons