Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)
Assessors: Krystal Tolley
Facilitators: Graham Alexander
Reviewers: Werner Conradie Margaretha Hofmeyr Paula Strauss Josh Weeber

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

This species is widespread in South Africa. Although it is not very common, there is no major threat to its habitat across the region.

Distribution

Endemic to the arid regions in southwestern Africa, from southern Angola through western Namibia to the western half of South Africa (Bates et al. 2014, Tolley and Burger 2007). In South Africa it occurs in the Northern and Western Cape provinces and North-West Province. Found from the southwestern Karoo to Namaqualand. The southernmost record is near Worcester, the most southwesterly record is near Prince Albert, and the most inland record in the central Northern Cape is at Carnarvon ( Bates et al. 2014). Further surveys are required to confirm whether the disjunct records in the northern part of the Northern Cape and adjacent North-West Province represent one or more isolated populations. The species may also occur in Botswana, but there are no records from that country.

Population trend

Trend

The species is inferred to be stable, although it is in low abundance in South Africa.

Threats

There are no substantial threats to this species regionally.

Uses and trade

This chameleons is listed on CITES Appendix II, but there are no recorded legal exports for trade (UNEP-WCMC 2017). However, this chameleon can be found for sale in Europe suggesting that there is illegal trade (C.V. Anderson Pers. comm. 2017).

Conservation

No conservation actions are recommended regionally, although illegal trade should be monitored.

References 

[@book{612,
 address = {Pretoria},
 author = {Bates, M.F., Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M., Burger, M., Marais, J., Alexander, G.J. and de Villiers, M.S.},
 publisher = {Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute},
 title = {Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland},
 year = {2014}
}
,@book{3009,
 address = {Cape Town},
 author = {Tolley, K.A. and Burger, M.},
 publisher = {Struik},
 title = {Chameleons of Southern Africa},
 year = {2007}
}
,@book{42683517,
 address = {Frankfurt, Germany},
 author = {Neças, P.},
 publisher = {Edition Chimaira},
 title = {Chameleons - Nature's Hidden Jewels.},
 year = {2004}
}
,@book{176308,
 address = {Frankfurt},
 author = {Tilbury, C.R.},
 publisher = {Edition Chimaira},
 title = {Chameleons of Africa: An Atlas, Including the Chameleons of Europe, the Middle East and Asia},
 year = {2010}
}
,@inbook{176308,
 address = {Berkeley},
 author = {},
 booktitle = {Chameleon conservation},
 editor = {Jenkins, R, Measey, G.J., Anderson, C.V. and Tolley, K.A.},
 pages = {276},
 publisher = {University of California Press},
 title = {The Biology of Chameleons},
 year = {2013}
}
,@article{176311,
 author = {Tolley, K.A., Townsend, T.M. and Vences, M.},
 journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B},
 number = {1759},
 pages = {20130184},
 title = {Large-scale phylogeny of chameleons suggests African origins and Eocene diversification},
 volume = {280},
 year = {2013}
}
,@article{176311,
 author = {Townsend, T. and Larson, A.},
 journal = {Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution},
 number = {1},
 pages = {22--36},
 title = {Molecular phylogenetics and mitochondrial genomic evolution in the Chamaeleonidae (Reptilia, Squamata)},
 volume = {23},
 year = {2002}
}
,]
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