Labord's chameleon (''Furcifer labordi'') is a

semelparous Semelparity and iteroparity are two contrasting reproductive strategies available to living organisms. A species is considered semelparous if it is characterized by a single reproductive episode before death, and iteroparous if it is characteri ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of chameleon, a lizard in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Chamaeleonidae. The species 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 else ...

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 ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''labordi'', is in honor of French adventurer

Jean Laborde Jean Laborde (16 October 1805 in Auch - 27 December 1878 in Mantasoa, Madagascar) was an adventurer and early industrialist in Madagascar. He became the chief engineer of the Merina monarchy, supervising the creation of a modern manufacturing cent ...

Geographic range

Laborde's chameleon is associated with spiny and deciduous forests in the south-west regions of Madagascar.

Life cycle

Like other ''Furcifer'' species ('' F. antimena'', '' F. lateralis''), ''F. labordi'' has an obligate year-long lifecycle. It lives for only about 4 to 5 months, making it the shortest lifespan ever recorded for a four-legged vertebrate. In their natural habitat, eggs hatch with the first rains in November. Their initial growth is rapid, and adulthood is reached by January, at which time they breed. By late February or early March, females have deposited the eggs which will hatch the next year, and the entire population dies until the next hatching. No other

tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids ( pelycosaurs, extinct t ...

has exhibited such a short lifespan.

In captivity

In captivity, eggs of ''F. labordi'' have hatched after 4 months of incubation at . Juveniles grow very rapidly, reaching adulthood after 3 months. Females that were properly fed grew with eggs and a vivid coloration, whereas females that were fed a less caloric diet grew thinner and only showed a green coloration.

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