''Brookesia lineata'', also commonly known as the lined leaf chameleon, is a species of

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. It was first described by Raxworthy and Nussbaum in 1995. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

ranked this as an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

Distribution and habitat

Endemic to Madagascar, the lined leaf chameleon's type locality is the

Manongarivo Reserve Manongarivo Reserve is a wildlife reserve in the North-West of Madagascar in the region of Diana. Manongarivo is home to both the Sambirano mouse lemur and the Sambirano woolly lemur. Geography The reserve has a surface of 64,356 ha and is sit ...

(Manongarivo Special Reserve). This chameleon has only been found at Manongarivo and

Tsaratanana Reserve ''For other localities with the same name, see Tsaratanana (disambiguation)'' Tsaratanana Reserve is a nature reserve of Madagascar.

s in

Tsaratanana ''For other localities with the same name, see Tsaratanana (disambiguation)'' Tsaratanana is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Tsaratanana, which is a part of Betsiboka Region. The population of the ...

Betsiboka Betsiboka is a Regions of Madagascar, region of Madagascar. It borders Boeny Region in north, Sofia Region, Sofia in northeast, Alaotra-Mangoro in east, Analamanga and Bongolava in south and Melaky in west. The capital of the region is Maevatanana. ...

at elevations around

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It is found over a total area of . The International Union for Conservation of Nature has ranked the lined leaf chameleon as endangered, as it is found where

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...

agricultural methods are commonly used to make space to plant

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

. Its population trend is unknown. It is found in protected areas.

Taxonomy

''Brookesia lineata'' was initially described in 1995 by Raxworthy and Nussbaum. According to the

ITIS The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...

, the taxonomic status of ''Brookesia lineata'' is valid, as of 2012. ''B. lineata'' is commonly known as the lined leaf chameleon. It has also been described by Necas in 1999: 277, and recently Townsend ''et al.'' in 2009. It was named after the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''linea'' which means "line" or "stripe".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2926143 L Endangered fauna of Africa Endemic fauna of Madagascar Reptiles of Madagascar Reptiles described in 1995 Taxa named by Christopher John Raxworthy Taxa named by Ronald Archie Nussbaum