Kinyongia asheorum sp. n., a new montane chameleon from the Nyiro Range, northern Kenya (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae)

Abstract

A new species of chameleon is described from the humid montane forests on Mt. Nyiro in northern Kenya. The new species is clearly distinct from its congeners by external morphology, especially the gular field with long pointed appendicular scales, and geographical isolation. Based on both the morphology and molecular phylogenetic data, we place the new species into the recently described genus Kinyongia.

Ancient forest fragmentation or recent radiation? Testing refugial speciation models in chameleons within an African biodiversity hotspot

“…1; and see Appendix S1 in the Supporting Information). The dataset included multiple examples from 15 of the 17 described species [samples of two new species (Nečas, 2009; Nečas et al. , 2009) were unavailable: Kinyongia asheorum from Mount Nyiru and Kinyongia vanheygeni from the Poroto Mountains].…”

“…1; and see Appendix S1 in the Supporting Information). The dataset included multiple examples from 15 of the 17 described species [samples of two new species (Nečas, 2009;Nečas et al, 2009) were unavailable: Kinyongia asheorum from Mount Nyiru and Kinyongia vanheygeni from the Poroto Mountains]. In addition, some taxa occur in more than one mountain block or volcanic mountain, but our sampling included only one locality (we lacked Kinyongia tavetana from South Pare Mountains and Kinyongia uthmoelleri from Ngorongoro).…”

Dispersal and speciation of East African mountain bushcrickets of the genus Phlesirtes (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Conocephalinae, Conocephalini) related to climate fluctuations

“…Taxa with a distribution pattern similar to that of Orthopterans are, for example, the tree frog genera Arthroleptis Smith and Hyperolius Rapp, represented by various endemic species in mountainous East Africa (Behangana et al ., ; Lawson, ), and the endemic genus Callulina Nieden with an array of closely related species on many of the Eastern Arc Mountains (Loader & Channing, ; Loader et al ., 2009a,b; Loader et al ., ,b). The chameleon genus Kinyongia Tilbury, Trolley & Branch also shows an array of closely related species on isolated mountains throughout Tanzania, Kenya and adjacent countries, and allopatric speciation was suggested as the driving force behind the biographical pattern we see today (Necas et al ., ).…”

A new chameleon of the Trioceros affinis species complex (Squamata, Chamaeleonidae) from Ethiopia

“…The African continent harbours not only a broad variety of morphologically and ecologically distinct chameleon species, but, in particular, also a high number of montane endemics that are restricted to single mountains or mountain ranges. Examples include the genus Kinyongia (Menegon et al 2002(Menegon et al , 2009Nečas et al 2009;Hughes et al 2017), but also several recently described species of the genus Trioceros like T. hanangensis (Mt. Hanang) from Tanzania (Krause and Böhme 2010) or T. kinangopensis (Kinangop Peak, Aberdare Mountains), T. narraioca (Mt.…”