Bradypodion atromontanum BRANCH, TOLLEY & TILBURY, 2006
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Bradypodion atromontanum
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| Higher Taxa | Chamaeleonidae, Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Swartberg Dwarf chameleon |
| Synonym | Bradypodion atromontanum BRANCH, TOLLEY & TILBURY 2006 Bradypodion atromontanum — TILBURY 2010: 230 Bradypodion atromontanum — CONRADIE et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Republic of South Africa (Western Cape Province, Cape Fold Mountains), elevation 1600-1800 m. Type locality: 500 m along road to Die Hel, west from Swartberg Pass, Great Swartberg, Prince Alfred District, Western Cape Province, South Africa (33°20’50”S, 22°01’40”E) |
| Reproduction | ovoviviparous |
| Types | Holotype: PEM R5744, adult male, collected by Colin Tilbury on 21 March 2002, DNA CT138. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Geographically closest to B. gutturale, but the two species do not occur in sympatry. Moreover, it differs from B. gutturalein having: a less pronounced casque; only slightly raised cranial crests; a gular crest that is composed only of small, simple, non-overlapping spines; and small, flattened flank tubercles arranged in only a single row. It differs in the latter also from B. ventrale (including the synonym B. karrooicum), and in the simple gular crest. It lacks the elongate gular grooves of B. occidentale, which also has a pronounced casque and large, overlapping (in part) flaps in the gular crest. Although B. damaranum is geographically close to B. atromontanum, it falls, genetically, into a different clade from that of gutturale-ventrale-atromontanum, and is also well diagnosed morphologically. In B. damaranum the tail is approximately 1.5 times the SVL(subequal in B. atromontanum and other members of the B. gutturale-ventrale clade); numerous very enlarged tubercles border the dorsal crest, especially on the tail; and it has a relatively longer leg length (adpressed limbs overlap considerably). |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is derived from atro(L), black; and montanus(L), mountain. The component elements allude to the black colouration of the flank area in excited individuals (see Fig. 3) and to the Mountain Fynbos habitat in which the species lives. In combination the components refer to the Swartberg (‘Black Mountain’), to which the chameleon is endemic. The name is constructed as neuter to correspond to the generic name. |
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