Spiny Chameleon

About the Spiny Chameleon

Furcifer verrucosus, also known as the warty chameleon, spiny chameleon or crocodile chameleon, is a species of reptile endemic to Madagascar. It was first described by Georges Cuvier in 1829. There are two subspecies, Furcifer v. verrucosus and Furcifer v. semicristatus, the latter being found mainly in the southernmost part of the island. This chameleon is closely related to Oustalet's chameleon Furcifer oustaleti (Malagasy giant chameleon), the pair forming a species complex, but each member of the group may be a cryptic species (two species indistinguishable in the field and currently believed to be a single species) and the exact taxonomical relationship between members of the group is unclear. New evidence has come to light that suggest that the two species are sister species and have differentiated as early as the Plio-Pleistocene Era. The species used to be only known as Furcifer oustaleti, but Jean-Francois Mocquard in 1894 noticed some morphological differences in the crests of the two chameleons.

The warty chameleon is a large species with males growing to a total length of 56 centimetres (22 in) and females reaching 21 cm (8 in). On its... Wikipedia →