Lengthy-known long-nosed Pinocchio chameleon fooled researchers – two new species recognized

Madagascar is the land of chameleons. More than 40% of all identified chameleon species reside on the island off the East African coast, together with the so known as Pinocchio chameleon, which has been identified for nearly 150 years. It belongs to the Calumma gallus species advanced, whose males have lengthy nasal appendages. So far, the form of the elongated snout has been the primary characteristic used to determine members of the species.

Genetic and morphological analyses now show that the animal referred to as the Pinocchio chameleon really belongs to a totally new species. The authors of the brand new examine named it Calumma pinocchio, in order that its widespread title and its scientific title now match.

The researchers had been capable of uncover additional new relationships among the many nostril chameleons by inspecting the genes of traditionally collected specimens. They recognized a second new species, Calumma hofreiteri, which had beforehand been categorised as Calumma nasutum primarily based on the form of its nasal appendage and different traits.

“The genetic analyses are conclusive: the nose chameleons have virtually fooled previous research,” says first creator Dr. Frank Glaw from the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History (SNSB). “Our study also revealed that the nasal appendages can change quickly in terms of length, shape, and color. Their evolution is possibly driven by the respective preferences of females in mate selection. ”

To reclassify the nostril chameleons, the worldwide analysis group additionally used the so-called museomics method, which allows to acquire DNA sequences from historic museum specimens. The oldest specimen examined on this examine was a chameleon collected in 1836. “The study shows the great potential of the new museomics methods to correctly identify historically collected specimens especially in species complexes,” provides Prof. Miguel Vences from the Technical University of Braunschweig.

Including the 2 new descriptions, precisely 100 chameleon species are actually identified from Madagascar, and a complete of 236 species worldwide.