 |
| Trioceros wolfgangboehmei Koppetsch, Nečas & Wipfler, 2021 DOI: 10.3897/zse.97.57297 Photos by Petr Nečas. |
Abstract
A new species of chameleon, Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov., inhabiting the northern slopes of the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia, is described. It differs from its Ethiopian congeners by a combination of the following features: presence of a prominent dorsal crest with a low number of enlarged conical scales reaching along the anterior half of the tail as a prominent tail crest, a casque raised above the dorsal crest, heterogeneous body scalation, long canthus parietalis, rugose head scalation, high number of flank scales at midbody and unique hemipenial morphology. Based on morphological characteristics, phylogenetic discordances of previous studies and biogeographical patterns, this new species is assigned to the Trioceros affinis (Rüppell, 1845) species complex. An updated comprehensive key to the Trioceros found in Ethiopia is provided.
Key Words: Bale Mountains, biogeography, Ethiopia, Great Rift Valley, key, morphology, new species, systematics, taxonomy, Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov.
 |
| Figure 6. Living individual of Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov. from Dinsho, Ethiopia showing a prominent white temporal spot and dorsolateral longitudinal stripe. Photo by Petr Nečas. |
 |
| Figure 7. Living individual of Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov. from Goba, Ethiopia, showing a beige ground pattern with slight reddish stripes in the head region around the orbit. Photo by Petr Nečas. |
Trioceros wolfgangboehmei, sp. nov.
Suggested common English name: Wolfgang Böhme’s Ethiopian Chameleon
Diagnosis:
Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov. is a small-sized chameleon of the Trioceros affinis species complex (sensu Ceccarelli et al. 2014). It can be distinguished from all other members of the same species complex by the following combination of characters:
(1) presence of a prominent and well-developed dorsal crest consisting of a relatively low number of significantly pointed and enlarged conical scales, forming a single row and reaching along the anterior half the tail;
(2) top of the casque posteriorly raised above the dorsal crest;
(3) heterogeneous body scalation with both small scattered standard scales and enlarged flattened plate-like scales;
(4) long canthus parietalis formed by 9–12 slightly enlarged scales;
(5) rugose head scalation consisting of enlarged scales forming the cranial crests that fill the area between the lateral and temporal crest and the posterior rim of the orbit;
(6) relatively high number of flank scales at midbody (53–59);
(7) relatively short snout-vent length (up to 66 mm);
(8) a unique hemipenial morphology including shallow calyces with smooth margins on the truncus, four pairs of thick, pointed and thorn-like papillae and two pairs of non-serrated rotulae.
Etymology: The specific epithet honours Wolfgang Böhme, senior herpetologist at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, Germany, for his numerous contributions to research on chameleons, for his outstanding and ongoing herpetological research in general, and, last but not least, for his continuously generous support of the first as well as second author and numerous junior zoologists. The species epithet is a noun in the genitive case.
 |
| Figure 10. Living juvenile of Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov. from Goba, Ethiopia. Photo by Petr Nečas. |
 |
| Figure 9. Head of a living Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov. from Goba, Ethiopia. Photo by Petr Nečas. |
 |
| Figure 8. Lateral detail of a living Trioceros wolfgangboehmei sp. nov. from Goba, Ethiopia, showing the heterogeneous body scalation with both small scattered tubercles and enlarged flattened plate-like scales. In this individual the dorsolateral stripe is interrupted and forms a Y-shaped pattern on the flanks. Photo by Petr Nečas. |
Thore Koppetsch, Petr Nečas and Benjamin Wipfler. 2021. A New Chameleon of the Trioceros affinis Species Complex (Squamata, Chamaeleonidae) from Ethiopia. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 97(1): 161-179. DOI: 10.3897/zse.97.57297
