Оңтүстік Африка нақты бақаларының туысы

Genus of lizards

Bradypodion (meaning "slow footed" in Greek) is a genus of chameleons in the family Chamaeleonidae, collectively called South African dwarf chameleons. All species are found in South Africa and most are endemic to this country, but a few can also be found in Eswatini, Lesotho, southernmost Namibia and possibly southernmost Mozambique. They are quite small chameleons where the different species often can be difficult to separate by appearance, although exact location (each species tends to have a rather small distribution) and the intense breeding colours of males are useful for their identification. They are arboreal, but some species are mostly found low in the vegetation. Bradypodion feed on small invertebrates, especially insects. Adult males are territorial. A female can give birth to up to 20 young per time, twice or rarely even three times in a year.

Emerald dwarf chameleon, Bradypodion sp. (Emerald)
Bradypodion sp. (Groendal)
Bradypodion sp. (Grootvadersbosch)
Bradypodion sp. (Jagersbos)

Delimitation of Bradypodion has been controversial for some time. Most species seem readily distinguishable by morphological characteristics, but for some time the genus was used as a wastebin taxon for smaller chameleons from sub Saharan Africa with plesiomorphic hemipenises. Alternatively, many of the present species were reduced to subspecies status. This has since been refuted, but several more species seem recognizable judging from morphological and mitochondrial 16S rRNA and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data. The phylogeny and biogeography of this group is quite consistently resolved. The Cape dwarf chameleon and the Knysna dwarf chameleon (and possibly one new species close to it) are basal lineages with unclear relationships; they seem a bit closer to each other than to any other species, but altogether are quite distant. They occur in isolated ranges in coastal Western Cape and western Eastern Cape provinces. Inhabiting a wide range of habitats, they are (for the genus) large, and have brilliant, predominantly green coloration and long tails just as in many Chamaeleo. These characters are plesiomorphic, retained from the genus' ancestor. The last species with aridland apomorphies, the Namaqua dwarf chameleon, is quite distant to the others; it occurs in coastal regions from north of the Cape species through Namaqualand. This is probably still a part of a single radiation which brought about all the aridland taxa, and eventually Smith's dwarf chameleon. In conclusion, of the three basic morphotypes found in this genus, one (bright, long tailed, large) is plesiomorphic, another (large, short tailed, drab) apparently only evolved once, and the third (the small, slope inhabiting forms) are convergent in morphology. The ancestors of Bradypodion thus were mid sized chameleons with vivid color, which settled the Cape region from roughly north northwestwards. Due to climate changes with fluctuating aridity, the basal lineages inhabiting humid fynbos in the southwest became isolated from each other and from the animals living around the border region between Northern and Eastern Cape and Free State, and Lesotho. The aridland habitat fluctuates in extent during climate shifts, and mountainous habitat becomes fragmented or consolidates accordingly. Consequently, the Drakensberg, the B. thamnobates B. melanocephalum, and the aridland group, as well as several coastal lineages, diverged and evolved to their present day ranges and diversity.