Chameleons -- perhaps one of the most instantly identifiable herps out there. But beyond their strange morphological adaptations what do we know about their lives? We check out a couple of papers looking at the lives of some East African species who until recently were missing some pretty basic natural history information. They are joined by a newly described species from the hills of Tanzania. FULL REFERENCE LIST AVAILABLE AT: herphighlights.podbean.com
Main Paper References:
Hughes, D. F., Blackburn, D. G., Wilber, L., & Behangana, M. (2018). New distribution records, observations on natural history, and notes on reproduction of the poorly known Sudanese Unicorn Chameleon (Chamaeleonidae: Trioceros conirostratus) from Uganda, Africa. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, 12(2), 83–89.
Reaney, L. T., Yee, S., Losos, J. B., & Whiting, M. J. (2012). Ecology of the Flap-Necked Chameleon Chamaeleo dilepis In Southern Africa. Breviora, 532(September), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3099/532.1
Species of the Bi-Week:
Menegon, M., Loader, S. P., Davenport, T. R. B., Howell, K. M., Tilbury, C. R., Machaga, S., & Tolley, K. A. (2015). A new species of Chameleon (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae: Kinyongia) highlights the biological affinities between the Southern Highlands and Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania. Acta Herpetologica, 10(2), 111–120. https://doi.org/10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-17171
Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:
Hebrard, J. J., & Madsen, T. (1984). Dry season intersexual habitat partitioning by flap-necked chameleons (Chamaeleo dilepis) in Kenya. Biotropica, 69-72.
Main, D. C., van Vuuren, B. J., & Tolley, K. A. (2018). Cryptic diversity in the common flap-necked chameleon Chamaeleo dilepis in South Africa. African Zoology, 53(1), 11-16.
Meiri, S. (2018). Traits of lizards of the world: Variation around a successful evolutionary design. Global Ecology and Biogeography, (June 2017), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12773
Miller, A. K., Maritz, B., McKay, S., Glaudas, X., & Alexander, G. J. (2015). An ambusher's arsenal: chemical crypsis in the puff adder (Bitis arietans). Proc. R. Soc. B, 282(1821), 20152182.
Preest, M. R., Ward, M. J., Poon, T., & Hermanson, J. W. (2016). Chemical Prey Luring in Jackson’s Chameleons. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, 89(2), 110–117. https://doi.org/10.1086/685455
Stipala, J. 2014. Mountain Dragons: In Search of Chameleons in the Highlands of Kenya. Jan Stipala, Singapore.
Tilbury CR, Tolley KA, Branch, WR (2006). A review of the genus Bradypodion (Sauria: Chamaeleonidae), with the descriptions of two new genera. Zootaxa 1363: 23-38. (Kinyongia, new genus).
Other Links/Mentions:
Video of flap necked chameleon vs boomslang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnhX_ho9DsE
Another, where chameleon loses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23TxyVZiICo
Music:
Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson
Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com
110 Snakes - Ant-mothers or Ant-Eaters
109 Accelerating Python Research
108 In The Hall of The Mountain Kingsnake
107 ROBO-TOADS
106 New Python Alert
105 Creative crab eating snakes
104 Unrequited sea snake love
103 Endangered Giants
102 War of the Worms
101 Monitor Lizards
100 Episode 100
099 I hope it is a dry bite
098 Kingsnake Squeeze
097 Picky Pink Panthers
096 Livid Lizards
095 Imps of Darkness
094 Hognose Hodgepodge
093 Tortoise Talk
092 Home is Where the Python's at
091 Vyper Vyper Biting Bright
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Strange by Nature Podcast
Blurry Creatures
Bigfoot Society
Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio
Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks