''Rhampholeon chapmanorum'', also known commonly as Chapmans' pygmy chameleon, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of terrestrial pygmy chameleon, a

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

in the family Chamaeleonidae. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to forest fragments in the Natundu Hills,

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

. It was described as a species new to science by Colin R. Tilbury in 1992, from a patch of lowland seasonal rainforest in the Matandwe Forest Reserve.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''chapmanorum'' (genitive, plural), is in honor of African naturalists James D. "Jim" Chapman and Elisabeth G. "Betty" Chapman, husband and wife.

Geographic range and taxonomy

The species ''R. chapmanorum'' was originally believed to be found across several inselbergs and mountains, until molecular phylogenetic analysis confirmed that it was endemic to the remaining forest in Malawi, and that other species from Mozambique were endemic to individual mountains.

Reproduction

''R. chapmanorum'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

. www.reptile-database.org.

Threats and conservation

''B. chapmanorum'' is assessed under IUCN criterion B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) as

Critically Endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

, with the caveat "possibly extinct". It is threatened by the conversion of land to agricultural operations and destruction of forests for small-scale logging operations that have limited suitable habitat to two 0.6 km² (0.23 m²) patches of forest, averaging 0.29 km² (0.11 mi²) in size. ''R. chapmanorum'' requires intact forest floors to feed, and therefore is not recorded from transformed or disturbed forests, limiting further the amount of suitable habitats available for the species. Some individuals were seen in 1998 during the last survey of the area. This species is very small, growing to a total length (including tail) of , yet only small populations could persist within these patches of forest. Although some areas of forest exist north, these are not included in assessments as they have recently been cleared and disturbed. ''R. chapmanorum'' is listed on the

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

list of Reptiles as number 49, with an EDGE score of 5.72 and ED score of 18.142.

Etymology

Geographic range and taxonomy

Reproduction

Threats and conservation

References

Further reading