Palleon

Palleon nasus, male

Palleon is a species-poor genus of small chameleons, which occurs in dry forests in the southeast and north of Madagascar. The two species of the genus were formerly placed in the genus Brookesia and separated from it, as they face as a basal clade to all other Brookesia species. The genus name Palleon is composed of the Greek words for old ( " Palae " ) and Leo ( " leon "), with the ending " ae " from " Palae " has been deleted for the purpose of better pronunciation.

Features

The two Palleon species are small chameleons brownish in color. Your head -body length is from 22 to 47 mm, the total length of 37-87 mm. The body is flattened laterally, the tail short, the muzzle is relatively long. At the tip of the snout they have a single ( P. lolontany ) or a pair ( P. nasus ) membranous outgrowth. Males have a wavy serrated dorsal crest. Dorsal spines are not present.

Palleon resembles so few on the African mainland domestic chameleons of the genus Rhampholeon, but has a very large genetic distance to this genus. From Brookesia to Palleon (no comb at all Brookesia species) differs by the elongated and tapered head ( short for Brookesia ), the membranous outgrowth at the tip of the snout and the undulating dorsal crest. In contrast, the most Brookesia species possess a spiny back. The genetic distance to Brookesia is great. From Rieppeleon, another genus of small African chameleons, to Palleon differs by the longer snout and longer tail ( except R. kerstenii ) and of all other chameleon species by the smallness, the shorter the tail, the absence of any color drawings and the relatively large genetic distance.

Species

It currently has two species to the genus Palleon:

• Palleon lolontany ( Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 1995).
• Palleon nasus ( Boulenger, 1887) Palleon nasus nasus ( Boulenger, 1887)
• Palleon nasus pauliani ( Brygoo, Blanc & Domergue, 1970)