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Chamaeleo laevigatus GRAY, 1863

IUCN Red List - Chamaeleo laevigatus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaChamaeleonidae, Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Smooth chameleon 
SynonymChamaeleon laevigatus GRAY 1863: 95
Chamaeleon laevigatus — GRAY 1865: 346
Chamaelio laevigatus — BLANFORD 1870: 445
Chamaeleon sphaeropholis REICHENOW 1887: 370
Chamaeleo vulgaris — PARENTI & PICAGLIA 1886
Chamaeleo senegalensis — DEL PRATO 1895
Chamaeleon senegalensis var. laevigatus — GÜNTHER 1895: 524
Chamaeleon sphaeropholis — TORNIER 1897: 55
Chamaeleon senegalensis laevigatus — SCHMIDT 1919: 580
Chamaeleo laeviceps — PASQUAL 1937
Chamaeleo laevigatus — KLAVER & BÖHME 1986
Chamaeleo (Chamaeleo) laevigatus — NECAS 1999: 142
Chamaeleo laevigatus — TILBURY & TOLLEY 2009
Chamaeleo laevigatus — TILBURY 2010: 510
Chamaeleo laevigatus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 261 
DistributionBurundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan (Jumhūriyyat), Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Uganda, Tanzania, N/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Central African Republic, Zambia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Cameroon

Type locality: “Khartoom, Sudan (Jumhūriyyat), Republic of South Sudan (RSS)”, corrected to 500 miles south of Khartoum, Sudan (Jumhūriyyat), Republic of South Sudan (RSS) by Boulenger 1887.  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1946.8.22.5-6, one female and one halfgrown. Previously NHMUK 1863.3.9.31–32, coll. Consul Petherick. 
Diagnosis 
CommentNot listed for Cameroon by GONWOUO et al. 2006. CHIRIO & INEICH (2006) assigned specimens of C. laevigatus reported by JOGER (1990) to the CAR to C. senegalensis.

Genome: Colston et al. 2025. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin l(a)evigare, to smoothen, -atus/a/um, perfect participle ending: smoothened, refering to the smooth scalation, in particular that of the head and body crests (Charles Klaver, pers. comm., 11 Jan 2023). 
References
  • Behangana, M.; C. Aluziyo, D dendi, L. Luiselli, D. F. Hughes, E. Greenbaum 2019. HERPETOFAUNAL DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AT LAKE NABUGABO AND SURROUNDING RAMSAR AREA WETLANDS IN SOUTHERN UGANDA. Vie et milieu - life and environment 69 (2-3): 1-N - get paper here
  • Blanford, W.T. 1870. Observations of the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, made 1867-68. McMillan (London), xii + 487 pp. - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
  • CAMPBELL, PATRICK D; WOLFGANG DENZER 2020. Annotated catalogue of chameleon types in the collection of the Natural History Museum, UK (NHMUK) (Reptilia: Squamata: Chamaeleonidae). Zootaxa 4742 (3): 481–500 - get paper here
  • Colston, Timothy J., Stacy Pirro, and R. Alexander Pyron. 2025. The Complete Genome Sequences of 101 Species of Reptiles. Biodiversity Genomes, February - get paper here
  • Glaw, F. 2015. Taxonomic checklist of chameleons (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae). [type catalogue] Vertebrate Zoology 65 (2): 167–246 - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1863. On a new species of Chamaeleon. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 248. - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1863. Notice on a new species of Chamaeleon sent from Khartoum by Mr. Consul Patherick. Proc. zool. Soc. London 1863: 94-95. - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1865. Revision of the genera and species of Chamaeleonidae, with the description of some new species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 15: 340-354 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1895. Notice of Reptiles and Batrachians collected in the eastern half of tropical Africa. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 15: 523-529. - get paper here
  • Klaver, C. & BÖHME,W. 1986. Phylogeny and classification of the Chamaeleonidae (Sauria), with special reference to hemipenis morphology. Bonner zool. Monogr. 22: 1-64. - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2006. Lizards of Ethiopia (Reptilia Sauria): an annotated checklist, bibliography, gazetteer and identification. Tropical Zoology 19 (1): 21-109 - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • Nečas, P. 1994. Bemerkungen zur Chamäleon-Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien, mit vorläufiger Beschreibung eines neuen Chamäleons aus Kenia (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae). Herpetozoa 7 (3/4): 95-108. - get paper here
  • Nečas, Petr 1999. Chameleons - Nature's Hidden Jewels. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt; 348 pp.; ISBN 3-930612-04-6 (Europe)<br />ISBN 1-57524-137-4 (USA, Canada)
  • Pasqual, J. H. 1937. The chamaeleons of Nigeria. Nigerian Field 6 (1): 32-34.
  • Perret, J. L. 1957. Découverte de la femelle Chamaeleo quadricornis Tornier et nore sur les Camélèons du Cameroun. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 64 (4): 79-89 - get paper here
  • Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
  • Reichenow, A. 1887. Neue Wirbelthiere des Zoologischen Museums in Berlin. Zool. Anz. 10: 369- 372. - get paper here
  • Schmidt, Karl Patterson 1919. Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo based on the Collection of the American Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. Part I: turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and chamaeleons. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 39 (2): 385-624 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, W.; Tamm, K. & Wallikewitz, E. 2010. Chamäleons - Drachen unserer Zeit. Natur und Tier Verlag, 328 pp. [review in Reptilia 101: 64, 2013] - get paper here
  • Spawls, S. & Rotich, D. 1997. An annotated checklist of the lizards of Kenya. J. East African Nat. Hist. 86: 61-83
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1917. Reptilia und Amphibia. In: Schubotz, H. (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Zweiten Deutschen Zentral-Afrika-Expedition, 1910-1911 unter Führung Adolph Friedrichs, Herzog zu Mecklenburg. Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, [Band] 1, Zoologie, Lieferung 11; S. 407-510. - get paper here
  • Tilbury, C. 2010. Chameleons of Africa: An Atlas, Including the Chameleons of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt M., 831 pp.
  • Tilbury, C. R. & Tolley, Krystal A. 2009. A re-appraisal of the systematics of the African genus Chamaeleo (Reptilia: Chamaeleonidae). Zootaxa 2079: 57–68 - get paper here
  • Tolley, K. & Burger, M. 2007. Chameleons of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town,100 pp.
  • Tornier,G. 1897. Die Kriechthiere Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Beiträge zur Systematik und Descendenzlehre. D. Reimer, Berlin, 164 pp. - get paper here
  • Trape, J.F.; Trape, S. & Chirio, L. 2012. Lézards, crocodiles et tortues d'Afrique occidentale et du Sahara. IRD Orstom, 503 pp. - get paper here
  • Uetz, P. 1983. Bemerkungen zur Inkubation von Chamaeleo laevigatus unter künstlichen Bedingungen. Herpetofauna 5 (22): 26-27. - get paper here
  • Werner,F. 1919. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der mit Unterstützung der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien aus der Erbschaft Treitl von F. Werner unternommenen zoologischen Expedition nach dem Anglo-Aegyptischen Sudan (Kordofan) 1914. IV. Bearbeitung der Fische, Amphibien und Reptilien. Denkschr. Akad. Wiss Wien, Math.-Naturw. Klasse 96: 437-509 - get paper here
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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