Common name

Common name : Itombwe forest chameleon.

Holotype: UTEP 20371 About UTEP (field no. EBG 1605 ), adult female, DRC, South Kivu Province, Mwenga Territory, Itombwe Plateau, near Bichaka village , 03°20′27.6″S 28°47′40.0″E, 2208 m elevation, 20 June 2008, collected by E. Greenbaum, C. Kusamba, M.M. Aristote and W.M. Muninga ( Fig. 9A, D). GoogleMaps

Paratypes: One adult female, UTEP 21479 About UTEP (field no. ELI 3357 ), DRC, South Kivu Province, Mwenga Territory, Itombwe Plateau, Kilumbi village , 03°25′56.0″S 28°34′34.5″E, 2020 m elevation, 16 June 2015, collected by M.M. Aristote ( Fig. 9B–C) GoogleMaps ; one adult male, UTEP 21480 About UTEP (field no. CFS 908 View Materials ), DRC, South Kivu Province, Mwenga Territory, Itombwe Plateau, Miki village , 03°21′24.4″S 28°41′24.4″E, c. 2200 m elevation, 1 October 2010, collected by M.M. Aristote. GoogleMaps

Diagnosis: Kinyongia itombwensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from all other Kinyongia species by the following combination of traits: (1) lack of rostro-nasal ornamentation in both sexes; (2) small body size (mean SVL = 51.1 mm); (3) few conical tubercles on dorsal crest (6–7); (4) casque almost indistinct from nape; (5) absence of both a gular and ventral crest; (6) 13–16 upper and 15–16 lower labials; (7) slightly bilobed shape of the upper casque; (8) tail length longer than SVL in both sexes; (9) parietal crest composed of several raised tubercles forming a semi-circle with an extension that connects posteriorly to apex of the casque; (10) background coloration of the body in adult females is generally shades of green and yellow; (11) darker brown pigment covers the cloacal region and extends distally onto hidden parts of the hind limbs and tail in adult females; (12) interstitial skin between the tubercles on the body is black, which is lighter in colour anteriorly and off-white on the nape; (13) a brown stripe passes through the middle of the eye, extending from the canthal ridge to the temporal crest, and the eye skin above and below the stripe is yellowish-green with flecks of blue; (14) the top of the head is darker brown than elsewhere; (15) tubercles on the casque converge to form a weakly raised peak posteriorly; (16) dorsal keel that is darker green-brown than elsewhere, with incomplete vertical black bands.

Differential diagnosis: A small-sized forest chameleon that is distinguished from most other congeners by the absence of a rostral process in both sexes ( K. asheorum , K. boehmei , K. carpenteri , K. fischeri , K. magomberae , K. matschiei , K. msuyae , K. multituberculata , K. oxyrhina , K. tavetana , K. tenuis , K. uluguruensis , K. uthmoelleri , K. vanheygeni , K. vosseleri and K. xenorhina ). The new species can be distinguished from K. adolfifriderici by more lower labials (15–16 vs. 12–15). For differences between K. rugegensis sp. nov. and K. tolleyae sp. nov. to K. itombwensis sp. nov., see their respective sections on Differential diagnosis. The new species can be distinguished from K. mulyai and K. excubitor by the presence of a dorsal crest with 6–7 conical tubercles and marked mitochondrial sequence divergence. The new species can be distinguished from K. gyrolepis by a smaller mean body size (51.1 vs. 67.3 mm) and current distribution in moist Afromontane rainforest.

Genetic differentiation and variation: Summary of pairwise sequence divergence for each molecular marker (16S, ND2, and RAG 1) among individuals of K. itombwensis sp. nov. and other species of Kinyongia endemic to the AR are presented in Table S2. For the ND2 locus, the p -distance between two K. itombwensis sp. nov. samples was 0.6%.

Description of holotype: Adult female, SVL 54.8 mm and TL 63.8 mm. Casque almost indistinguishably elevated above nape. Short apex on posterior casque. Casque slightly bilobed. Neck indistinct from head. Parietal crest consists of five enlarged tubercles. Parietal crest tubercles in semi-circle pattern at mid-casque and one distinctly larger conical tubercle present on either side. Ridge of parietal tubercles extending to raised apex of casque. Supra-orbital ridges smooth. Temporal crest consists of three enlarged tubercles extending posteriorly from mid-eye and ascending along posterior ridge of casque to apex. Nares open laterally, in posterior orientation. Canthal ridge consists of five raised tubercles descending from eye towards snout and one distinctly larger conical tubercle present anteriorly. Thirteen upper and 15 lower labials present along tip of snout to posterior margin of orbit. No gular or ventral crests present. Six distinctly raised conical tubercles present on anterior portion of dorsal crest, absent far before mid-body. Tail and lateral flanks smooth. Body covered in nearly homogenous, flattened tubercles. Some larger polygonal tubercles present dorsally on flanks. Rosette patches of smaller tubercles present on ventral body. Mostly enlarged flattened tubercles present on outer portions of limbs. Claws typical of Kinyongia species.

Coloration of holotype (in ethanol): Photographs of the body and head detail of the holotype (in preservative) are presented in Fig. 10. The background coloration is various shades of blue and purple with darker grey areas on dorsal parts of the body and tail. The venter, beginning below the nape to the cloacal region, is lighter in colour, almost pink to off-white. Patches of lighter purple-blue are present behind the eye, near the commissure of mouth and extend onto the gular area. The ventral portions of the tail are off-white. The axillary and inguinal regions are of lighter pigment than elsewhere on the body. The soles of the feet are yellowish-white.

Coloration of holotype (in life): Photographs of the holotype (in life) are presented in Figure 9A, D. The top of the head is covered in dark brown tubercles with black interstitium. Below the temporal crest to the canthal ridge, the head is covered in light brown and yellow tubercles with green interstitium. At mid-eye, there is a dark lateral stripe that connects the brown coloration on the canthal ridge to the temporal crest. The skin above and below the stripe on the eye is yellow-green with minor powder blue speckles. Labial scales are heterogeneous in colour with mostly hues of yellow and brown. The gular region just below the tip of the snout is yellow, which fades to off-white posteriorly until entirely absent at the nape. The ventral regions of the body are light green in colour, with shades of white and powder blue. The background coloration of the body is green with yellow-edged tubercles and black interstitium. Two medium-sized grey patches are positioned slightly anteriorly and posteriorly from mid-body on the lateral flanks. These patches are surrounded by slightly darker green tubercles. Several dark vertical bands begin on the dorsal keel and quickly fade ventrally, without reaching to mid-body. Smaller body tubercles form rosettes, with light green colour filling spaces between tubercles. Interstitial skin on the venter is lighter than elsewhere. Tubercles near axillary and inguinal regions, and hidden parts of limbs, are mostly white with flecks of green. The dorsal crest has darker green-brown tubercles than elsewhere and this pattern extends onto the tail. The posterior third of the tail appears darker green than other parts of the tail, and in general, coloration of the tail is darker than the body.

Hemipenis: Only a single male specimen was found ( UTEP 21480) and the hemipenis was not everted upon collection in the field.

Variation: Descriptive morphometrics of K. itombwensis sp. nov. are presented in Table 6 and a summary of mean measurements in Table 3. Chameleon photographs for two individuals displaying colour variation in life are presented in Fig. 9. Morphological proportions in paratypes are generally consistent with those in the holotype. Too few specimens have been collected to draw reliable inferences regarding intraspecies or intersexual variation. Also, no male photographs were available for comparative descriptions between male and female colour patterns in life. The following observations are based on photographs of two female specimens. When agitated, the head was almost entirely black, interstitial skin was lighter and more conspicuous, and large patches on the flanks were dark brown ( Fig. 9B, C). When the mouth was opened in a defensive posture, the gular region was expanded and displayed an off-white interstitium ( Fig. 9B, C). Two white patches, one positioned slightly anteriorly and a second slightly posteriorly from mid-body, are present on the lateral flanks of the female holotype, but not present on a female paratype. Photographs of the holotype ( Fig. 9A, D) likely reflect more normal coloration for the species in life, whereas photographs of a paratype ( Fig. 9B, C) are of a distressed individual in defensive posture that is displaying aggressive coloration in life.

Reproduction: Two female specimens collected on 16 June 2008 ( UTEP 20371 About UTEP ) and 20 June 2015 ( UTEP 21479 About UTEP ) were not gravid. These specimens measured SVL 54.8 mm and 63.8 mm ( UTEP 20371 About UTEP ), and SVL 52.2 mm and 68.0 mm ( UTEP 21479 About UTEP ). The largest ovarian follicles for these two individuals measured <3 mm and the follicles lacked evidence of yolk. Fat bodies were minor for both of these individuals. We speculate that the reproductive status of these females may reflect a period with less rainfall between June and September in the Itombwe Plateau ( Jones & Harris, 2008), or that these individuals were not sexually mature despite being of a similar body size to adults of closely related species. More investigation with a larger sample is necessary to determine the reproductive aspects of this new species .

A single adult male ( UTEP 21480) had darkly pigmented testes (i.e. black coloration) and was sexually mature. This individual with SVL 52.2 mm and TL 68.0 mm collected on 1 October 2010 had enlarged testes. The right testis of this individual measured 6.16 mm in length and 4.17 mm in width. This individual had minor fat bodies.

Diet: Two female specimens examined for gut contents had empty stomachs ( UTEP 20371 About UTEP and UTEP 21479 About UTEP ), and one male specimen ( UTEP 21480 About UTEP ) had only a few unidentifiable remains of arthropod prey items .

Distribution and natural history: Kinyongia itombwensis sp. nov. is known from only three localities in the montane forest of the Itombwe Plateau at an elevation range from 2020 to 2208 m. The holotype was found in the vicinity of Bichaka village in a mixed habitat composed of primary forest and agriculture fields. This species seems to be restricted to higher elevation montane rainforest; however, the small number of specimens collected hindered our ability to deduce reliable natural history information. No juveniles were detected during multiple repeated search periods in the plateau and surrounding areas. Behaviour and activity patterns are essentially unknown, but likely similar to that of K. adolfifriderici ( Tilbury, 2010) . One male specimen ( UTEP 21480) contained a species of parasitic nematode ( Rhabdias spp. ) in its lung (C. Bursey, personal communication). Other lizard species collected from Itombwe comprised typical AR lizard fauna and some endemic species, including Congolacerta vauereselli , Holaspis cf. guentheri , Leptosiaphos blochmanni , L. graueri , Rhampholeon boulengeri , Trachylepis varia , Trioceros johnstoni and T. schoutedeni .

Conservation: Given the extremely high level of vertebrate endemism harboured in the Itombwe Plateau and the known range of this new species as it currently stands, it is possible that this species is endemic to the Itombwe and Kabobo plateaus. Although gazetted as a reserve in 2006, anthropogenic pressures in this region are substantial and pose serious threats to the biological integrity of Itombwe’s forest and its resident fauna (reviewed by Greenbaum & Kusamba, 2012).

Etymology: The specific epithet is derived from the massif, Itombwe, where this species was found, with the Latin suffix – ensis denoting a place or locality.