Chamaeleo dilepis

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

View Printer Friendly

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	REPTILIA	SQUAMATA	CHAMAELEONIDAE

Scientific Name:

Chamaeleo dilepis

Species Authority:

Leach, 1819

Common Name/s:

English

–

Flap-necked Chameleon

Synonym/s:

Chamaeleo angusticoronatus Barbour 1903

Chamaeleo bilobus Kuhl, 1820

Chamaeleo capellii Bocage, 1866

Chamaeleo planiceps Merrem, 1820

Taxonomic Notes:

Subspecies:
C. dilepis dilepis Leach, 1819
C. dilepis idjwiensis Loveridge, 1942
C. dilepis isabellinus Günther 1893
C. dilepis martensi Mertens, 1964
C. dilepis petersi Gray, 1865.

C. quilensis may also be a subspecies, however, this has not been confirmed.

The taxonomy regarding the status of subspecies is uncertain; some subspecies may be elevated to species status in the future.

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2011
Assessor/s:	Carpenter, A.I. & Spawls, S.
Reviewer/s:	Böhm, M., Collen, B. & Ram, M.
Contributor/s:	De Silva, R., Milligan, H.T., Wearn, O.R., Wren, S., Zamin, T., Sears, J., Wilson, P., Lewis, S., Lintott, P. & Powney, G.
Justification: Chamaeleo dilepis has been assessed as Least Concern owing to its large distribution, abundance, and its tolerance of an anthropogenic environment. Although collected for the pet trade, there are currently no known or observed effects of removal for the pet trade on natural populations. Careful attention should be paid to detect early warning signs for declines in the population, because of gaps in our knowledge on the population biology and taxonomy of this species.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is widely distributed throughout southern and eastern Africa. It has been described as far west as Cameroon (Welch 1982) and possibly Nigeria, east to Kenya and Somalia and south through Tanzania into Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa (Patterson 1987). There are limited records of the species occurring in Rwanda and Burundi (Spawls et al. 2002), however, this could be attributed to low recorder effort rather than the absence of the species from the area. The species has recently been confirmed on Lolui island in Uganda (S. Spawls pers. comm. 2010).
Countries:	Native: Angola (Angola); Botswana; Cameroon; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Djibouti; Equatorial Guinea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Kenya; Malawi; Mozambique; Namibia; Somalia; South Africa (Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape Province, North-West Province); Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	This species is relatively abundant.
Population Trend:	Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This species inhabits coastal forest, both moist and dry savanna, woodland and bushy grasslands, it has also been found in urban areas (Spawls et al. 2002, Patterson 1987). The species is arboreal , however, it is not as exclusively arboeal as many of the other chameleon taxa (Bergmann et al. 2003).
Systems:	Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	This species is collected for the international pet trade with the greatest demand coming from the USA. Between 1977 and 2001, 49,836 individuals were traded (Carpenter et al. 2004). To date, there are no known or observed effects of removal for the pet trade on natural populations. Regardless, because population sizes are not known, there are no estimates of survival or rates of population increase, and the taxonomy regarding the status of sub-species is uncertain, careful attention should be paid for any warning signs of declines.

Major Threat(s):

This species is collected for the international pet trade with the greatest demand coming from the USA. Between 1977 and 2001, 49,836 individuals were traded (Carpenter et al. 2004). To date, there are no known or observed effects of removal for the pet trade on natural populations. Regardless, because population sizes are not known, there are no estimates of survival or rates of population increase, and the taxonomy regarding the status of sub-species is uncertain, careful attention should be paid for any warning signs of declines.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	This species is listed under Appendix II of CITES (CITES 2007). There are no other species-specific conservation measures in place for this species, however, in places its distribution coincides with protected areas. No further conservation measures are required at this time. There is uncertainty about the status of subspecies, so that research is needed to clarify the taxonomy of the species.

Conservation Actions:

This species is listed under Appendix II of CITES (CITES 2007). There are no other species-specific conservation measures in place for this species, however, in places its distribution coincides with protected areas. No further conservation measures are required at this time. There is uncertainty about the status of subspecies, so that research is needed to clarify the taxonomy of the species.

Citation:	Carpenter, A.I. & Spawls, S. 2011. Chamaeleo dilepis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 23 May 2013.
Disclaimer:	To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
Feedback:	If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided