Etymology of Furcifer pardalis?

[Old World]

I am not having much luck in my search. All I could find is the meaning, (forked-spotted?), but not the history (i.e. who first described and classified panthers, etc) Could someone please fill me in?

 

[kinyonga]

All I could find was...Furcifer means rascal...
http://www.online-dictionary.biz/latin/english/meaning/furcifer

Is this what you're looking for?...
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/F/Furcifer_pardalis/

 

[Old World]

Thank you! That second link is exactly what I was looking for. Now I can thank Georges Couvier for classifying panthers. Would you happen to know the story behind the common name panther chameleon?

 

[kinyonga]

Pardalis means panther?
The formal system of naming species is called binomial nomenclature....maybe you can find it out if you google that?

You might be interested in this too...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_nomenclature

 

[Old World]

Turns out there was a discussion here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/panther-12007/. Guess the common name's real origin is debatable.

 

[kinyonga]

I added some information to my previous post.

 

[Hoj]

the chameleon handbook from barrons by Francois Le Berre has a good little section on this topic covering linnaean taxology as well as phylogenetic systematists classification i belive you can buy this book from the site bookstore

 

[Old World]

Thanks Hoj, I will look into that. I was considering: The Panther Chameleon: Color Variation, Natural History, Conservation, and Captive Management, by Ferguson et. al...But I see just one edition, published in 2004. The browsing continues.