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Rieppeleon kerstenii (PETERS, 1868)

IUCN Red List - Rieppeleon kerstenii - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaChamaeleonidae, Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesRieppeleon kerstenii kerstenii (PETERS 1868)
Rieppeleon kerstenii robecchii (BOULENGER 1891) 
Common NamesE: Kenya Stumptail Chameleon, Kenya leaf chameleon, Kenya pigmy chameleon
G: Somali-Zwergchamäleon, Stummelschwanzchamäleon 
SynonymChamaeleo Kerstenii PETERS 1868: 449
Rhampholeon Kerstenii — FISCHER 1884: 23
Rhampholeon kerstenii — GÜNTHER 1880: 238
Rhampholeon Kerstenii — FISCHER 1884: 47
Rhampholeon kerstenii — SCORTECCI 1931: 13
Brookesia kerstenii — LOVERIDGE 1936: 335
Brookesia kerstenii — MERTENS 1966 : 2
Rhampholeon kerstenii — KLAVER & BÖHME 1986: 58
Rhampholeon kerstenii — NECAS 1999: 254
Rhampholeon kerstenii kerstenii — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 14
Rieppeleon kerstenii — MATTHEE et al. 2004
Rieppeleon kerstenii kerstenii — LEPTIEN 2006
Rieppeleon kerstenii kerstenii — TILBURY 2010: 219
Rieppeleon kersternii — MALONZA et al. 2017 (in error)
Rieppeleon kerstenii — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 247

Rieppeleon kerstenii robecchii (BOULENGER 1891)
Rhampholeon robecchii BOULENGER 1891: 13
Rhampholeon mandera MEEK 1897: 183 (fide WERNER 1902)
Rhampholeon kerstenii robecchii — LOVERIDGE 1936: 79
Rhampholeon kerstenii robecchii — LANZA 1988
Rhampholeon robecchii — PIANKA & VITT 2003: 56
Rhampholeon robecchii — NECAS & SCHMIDT 2004
Rieppeleon kerstenii robecchii — TILBURY 2010: 219
Rieppeleon robecchii — MAZUCH 2013
Rieppeleon kerstenii robecchii — GLAW 2015 
DistributionNE/E Kenya, E Tanzania

Type locality: Wanga [=Vanga], bei Mombas (= Mombasa), Kenya

robecchii: Somalia, Ethiopia, NE Kenya; Type locality: “Wuorandi, near Obbia” [= Warandi, Somalia].  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 5516
Holotype: lost, was MSNG 29079 (also given as MCSN-EE; (presumed to have been lost in the floods of 1970, fide TILBURY 2010: 219, Glaw 2015) [robecchii]
Holotype: FMNH 370 [mandera] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): The hemipenes are acalyculate but have a quadruple apical ornamentation (R. kerstenii (Klaver & Böhme 1986) and R. brachyurus (Tilbury pers. obs.) or none at all (R. brevicaudatus). Parietal bone trigonal, tapering posteriorly into a thin posterior saggital crest. Parietal peritoneum unpigmented. The snout is smooth with no rostral process. Supra-optic peak bony. Plantar surface covered with acuminate spines, claws weakly bicuspid. No accessory plantar spines present. A thin lateral flank ridge of tubercles is present and body pattern of horizontal stripes. The tail may be very truncated as in Ri. brachyurus (average of 14% of total length), to relatively long in Ri. kerstenii (up to 40% of total length) (Matthee et al. 2004: supplement). 
CommentType Species: Chamaeleo Kerstenii PETERS 1868 is the type species of the genus Rieppeleon MATTHEE et al. 2004.

Subspecies: Rieppeleon kerstenii robecchii (BOULENGER 1892) has been elevated to full species. 
EtymologyThe species is dedicated to OTTO KERSTEN (1839-1900), a German chemist and African traveller.

The genus has been named for the comparative anatomist Olivier Rieppel who first identified the paraphyly of the African pygmy chameleons by virtue of differences in cranial anatomy.

Rieppeleon kerstenii robecchii has been named after the collector of the type, Sig. L. Bricchetti Robecchi. 
References
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