{"id":6354,"date":"2026-04-15T15:46:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/?p=6354"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:54:29","slug":"artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/","title":{"rendered":"Description of Chamaeleo incognitus has been declared invalid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em> complex continues to raise a great many questions. A comprehensive study of its genetics and morphology across large parts of Africa has yet to be carried out. In 2025, Ne\u010das described the species <em>Chamaeleo incognitus<\/em> in the journal <em>Archaius<\/em>, which he himself edited, managed and published. He also elevated the subspecies <em>Chamaeleo dilepis roperi<\/em> and <em>Chamaeleo dilepis martensi<\/em> to species status. South African researchers have now examined the issue in greater detail and concluded that both the new description and the changes to the species\u2019 status are invalid.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The authors of the current paper highlight several issues underlying this species description. Firstly, Ne\u010das assumes that a preserved chameleon from Mombasa (Kenya) is the \u2018true\u2019 <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em>. However, the type locality of <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em> is Gabon, some 3,300 km away from the East African <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em>. Furthermore, there exists no detailed description of the hemipenes from the holotype \u2013 that is, the specimen first described under the name <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em>. Only a publication from 2007 mentions the hemipenes of <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em> briefly, in nine words. Nevertheless, Ne\u010das uses these few words as an established description and states that the hemipenes of <em>Chamaeleo incognitus<\/em> differed from them. What he then describes very briefly, corresponds to the hemipenes of <em>Chamaeleo dilepis roperi<\/em>. In the photographs of the hemipenes of <em>Chamaeleo incognitus<\/em>, however \u2013 just to add to the confusion \u2013 the South African scientists recognise the same characteristics as those found on the hemipenes of <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em> from Mombasa.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Furthermore, a 2022 study using phylogenetic analysis stated that the <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em> of East Africa differ significantly from those of West Africa. Both the lowland and highland species of East Africa form a single clade. Purely in terms of appearance, it is not possible to reliably distinguish between the <em>Chamaeleo dilepis roperi<\/em> from the coastal region and those from the highlands. If one were to describe one of the two populations as a separate species \u2013 in this case, the one in the highlands as <em>Chamaeleo incognitus<\/em> \u2013 genetic evidence would be required. This is lacking in Ne\u010das\u2019s publication. The only remaining difference between the species is the different habitat or altitude \u2013 which is not sufficient for the South African scientists to describe a separate species. <em>Chamaeleo incognitus<\/em> should therefore be regarded as a synonym of <em>Chamaeleo dilepis roperi<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Furthermore, the description did not comply with the rules of the ICZN (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature). Common \u2018best practice\u2019 guidelines, such as disclosing a conflict of interest, were not followed. This includes, for example, publishing an article in one\u2019s own journal without expert review (known as peer review).<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Chamaeleo incognitus<\/em><\/strong><strong> or <em>Chamaeleo<\/em> ignotus? Questioning the taxonomic validity of a new chameleon species<br \/>\n<\/strong>Devon C. Main, Colin R. Tilbury<br \/>\nAfrican Journal of Herpetology, April 2026<br \/>\nDOI: 0.1080\/21564574.2025.2595158<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/eprint\/CPNFZDXI2E265XIANUTM\/full?target=10.1080\/21564574.2025.2595158\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Free article download<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Picture: <em>Chamaeleo dilepis<\/em> from Botswana<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chamaeleo dilepis complex continues to raise a great many questions. A comprehensive study of its genetics and morphology across large parts of Africa has yet to be carried out. In 2025, Ne\u010das described the species Chamaeleo incognitus in the journal Archaius, which he himself edited, managed and published. He also elevated the subspecies Chamaeleo [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,45],"tags":[577,132,897,244,277,898,576,899],"class_list":["post-6354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neubeschreibungen","category-wissenschaft","tag-artbestimmung","tag-chamaeleo-dilepis","tag-chamaeleo-incognitus","tag-gabun","tag-neubeschreibung","tag-ostafrika","tag-taxonomie","tag-westafrika"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Description of Chamaeleo incognitus has been declared invalid - AG Cham\u00e4leons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Description of Chamaeleo incognitus has been declared invalid - AG Cham\u00e4leons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chamaeleo dilepis complex continues to raise a great many questions. A comprehensive study of its genetics and morphology across large parts of Africa has yet to be carried out. In 2025, Ne\u010das described the species Chamaeleo incognitus in the journal Archaius, which he himself edited, managed and published. He also elevated the subspecies Chamaeleo [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AG Cham\u00e4leons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T13:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T13:54:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chamaeleo-dilepis-inaturalist-CC0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1337\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alex Negro\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alex Negro\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/\",\"name\":\"Description of Chamaeleo incognitus has been declared invalid - AG Cham\u00e4leons\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chamaeleo-dilepis-inaturalist-CC0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T13:46:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T13:54:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/de\/#\/schema\/person\/b04500b4a994029068c4d5994e847ca3\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[[\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/\"]]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chamaeleo-dilepis-inaturalist-CC0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Chamaeleo-dilepis-inaturalist-CC0.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1337},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/\",\"name\":\"AG Cham\u00e4leons\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/de\/#\/schema\/person\/b04500b4a994029068c4d5994e847ca3\",\"name\":\"Alex Negro\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/author\/alex\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Description of Chamaeleo incognitus has been declared invalid - AG Cham\u00e4leons","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.agchamaeleons.de\/en\/artbeschreibung-von-chamaeleo-incognitus-fuer-ungueltig-erklaert\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Description of Chamaeleo incognitus has been declared invalid - AG Cham\u00e4leons","og_description":"The Chamaeleo dilepis complex continues to raise a great many questions. 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