Reunion Chameleon - A Bit Confused?!

[Miss Lily]

I was just browsing the online species inventory for a UK zoo. They have several species of chams, including Flapneck, Melleri, Veileds and Quads, but the one that drew my attention was listed as 'Reunion Chameleon' with the scientific name of Chamaeleo Pardalis! Is there such a thing, or did someone not do their research properly?!

I actually visited the zoo in question before I got into chameleon keeping. I remeber seeing Veiled's there but not the others. Now I really want to go back again and get some photos! I'll stay with the chams in the reptile house and the family can come back for me when they've seen everything else, lol!

 

[Kent67]

There is an introduced population of panthers on Reunion Island. They kind of look like Nosy Be's or a mix of them to me.

 

[Miss Lily]

Ah! Thanks! I hadn't heard of Reunion chams before - only the usual locales so was a bit confused!

 

[james L]

Panthers live on reunion. At some point in time they were brought over. Dont qoute me on this but I think they have been there for something like 3-4 hundred years. Panthers have been set free on a few other islands outside of madagascar also.

 

[reptimom]

We learn something new everyday!! If you do go Tiff, please get lots of pictures for us!

 

[Miss Lily]

We learn something new everyday!! If you do go Tiff, please get lots of pictures for us!

I sure will! Every summer we keep saying we'll go again but never get there. Maybe 2010 will change that! I really want to see the Melleri in person so I can appreciate just how big those guys really are!

 

[Sang]

that must be some old taxonomy, the nominclature seems wrong regaurdless...

fucifer paradalis is your typical panthers chameleon.

i laugh, cause proper latin on paradalis is the word for leopard.

 

[Kent67]

It is just old. Furcifer wasn't widely used until towards the end of the '90s. I didn't notice it because they all used to be Chamaeleo pardalis, Chamaeleo parsonii, Chamaeleo lateralis, Chamaeleo globifer to me.