{"id":894,"date":"2014-09-05T20:32:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T18:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madcham.com\/wordpress\/?p=894"},"modified":"2025-07-13T20:47:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T18:47:02","slug":"furcifer-lateralis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madcham.de\/en\/furcifer-lateralis\/","title":{"rendered":"Furcifer lateralis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n\t\tCITES quotas<\/strong>
\n2011-25 each 2000 specimens for legal export\t<\/div>\r\n\t\n

<\/h4>\n

First description:\"IUCN<\/a><\/h4>\n

(Gray, 1831)<\/p>\n

Origin of the species name:<\/h4>\n

The English zoologist John Edward Gray was very brief in his description of this chameleon species: it consists of just keywords instead of a coherent sentence. In 1831, Gray was busy cataloging the reptile collection of the zoological department of the British Museum in London (Great Britain). Gray called the species “streaked-sided chameleon”, but in Latin lateralis<\/em> only the “sided” is left. Similarly, old publications speak partly of the “Cam\u00e9l\u00e9on au bandes laterales”, which also indicates that the name is due to the body drawing.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n

Distribution:<\/h4>\n

Furcifer lateralis<\/em> can be found in Madagascar’s central highlands and along the east coast from southern regions to somewhat north of the capital, whereby they settle different habitats from relatively dry grass savannahs to more humid forests. They also find a home in secondary vegetation at the edges of rice fields, close to clay huts and smaller villages. Even in Antananarivo, some carpet chameleons live along the dikes at the edge of the local rivers. The easiest way to find these animals is to search bushes and shrubs directly along the streets. Furcifer lateralis<\/em> occurs at elevations from 900 to 1560 m asl.<\/p>\n

\"Furcifer<\/a>

Furcifer lateralis<\/em> in Isalo<\/p><\/div>\n

Aussehen und Gr\u00f6\u00dfe:<\/h4>\n

With a total length of 23-25 cm (snout-vent-length without tail 9-10 cm), this chameleon species belongs to the small to middle-sized chameleons. They have a colorful, complex color pattern made of red, yellow, black and blue spots – this is what they received their trivial name “carpet chameleon” for. Mainly the females wear this bright coloration, males are a little more unpretentious green-white or yellow-white. The white lateral stripe and the ring-shaped dark pattern can be seen in both genders. At the edge of their distribution area, in Isalo, we have found Furcifer lateralis<\/em> females with a conspicuous uniformly ruby-colored or pinkish skin. In all specimens of this species, the helmet is low and a little stretched to the back, so it hardly tops the back. The parietal crest consists of 14 to 20 scales, often on dark or reddish-brown ground. In contrast to Furcifer major,<\/em> Furcifer lateralis<\/em> has axillary pits like Furcifer viridis<\/em>. Young Furcifer lateralis <\/em>often still have a gular crest that disappears with age. Some of the young specimens are bright neon-green colored.<\/p>\n