''Furcifer belalandaensis'', also commonly known as the Belalanda chameleon or the Sangoritan'i Belalanda, 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 identified and described by Édouard-Raoul Brygoo and

Charles Domergue Charles Antoine Domergue (5 January 1914 in Besançon, France – 31 December 2008 in Antananarivo) was a French naturalist, ornithologist, herpetologist, spelunker and geologist who spent much of his life in Madagascar. He also dealt with the e ...

in 1970. 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 ...

rated this species as Critically Endangered on their

Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

. The

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

is trying to save this species from extinction.

Distribution and habitat

''Furcifer belalandaensis'' is

Belalanda Belalanda is a town and commune ( mg, kaominina) in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Toliara II, which is a part of Atsimo-Andrefana Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 7,000 in 2001 commune census. B ...

, a town and rural commune in

Toliara II Toliara (also known as ''Toliary'', ; formerly ''Tuléar'') is a city in Madagascar. It is the capital of the Atsimo-Andrefana region, located 936 km southwest of national capital Antananarivo. The current spelling of the name was adopted ...

Atsimo-Andrefana Atsimo-Andrefana is a region of Madagascar. It borders Menabe in north, Amoron'i Mania and Haute Matsiatra in northeast, Ihorombe and Anosy in east and Androy in southeast. The capital is Toliara and the population was 1,799,088 in 2018. Atsimo ...

, south-west Madagascar. It is one of only five Critically Endangered reptiles extremely threatened by extinction. It has an extremely small range, being restricted to an area of . Its original habitat was gallery forest but this has all been cleared and it is now found in the canopies of the non-indigenous trees that have been planted and in the few remaining mature trees. Its main threat is from the significant amount of

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

occurring for the manufacture of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

in this area. It can be found at between above sea level. Although the true population of the ''Furcifer belalandaensis'' is unknown, the International Union for Conservation of Nature believes that the population is declining. In a local initiative, the municipal authority has taken steps to ban the collection and trade in this species and local people are involved in its preservation.

Description

The Belalanda chameleon is green in colour.

Taxonomy

''Furcifer belalandaensis'' was initially described as ''Chamaeleo belalandensis'' by Brygoo and Domergue in 1970, and is also known as the Belalanda chameleon and the Sangoritan'i Belalanda. It has two synonyms: ''Chamaeleo belalandaensis'' (Brygoo and Domergue, 1970), and ''Furcifer belalandaensis'' (Glaw and Vences, 1994 and Necas, 1999).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3011815 Furcifer

Critically endangered fauna of Africa Reptiles described in 1970 Taxa named by Édouard-Raoul Brygoo Taxa named by Charles Domergue