Trioceros melleri (Gray, 1865)

Bittencourt-Silva, Gabriela B., Bayliss, Julian & Conradie, Werner, 2020, First herpetological surveys of Mount Lico and Mount Socone, Mozambique, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 247) 14 (2), pp. 198-217 : 208

Trioceros melleri (Gray, 1865)

Meller’s Chameleon

Material. MOUNT SOCONE (base): Photograph Fig. 4E; DNA sample. Identification. This is the largest mainland species of chameleon and is characterized by having a single small annular rostral horn. The BLAST search shows 99% similarity with T. melleri from Malema River in northern Mozambique ( DQ 923813). Comments. This individual, collected by workers from the Chá Socone tea plantation, was photographed before having a DNA sample taken from the tail tip and then released. This is the only species of Trioceros known from Mozambique, whereas in adjacent Tanzania there are 15 species ( Spawls et al. 2018).