NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Kilimanjaro two-horned chamaeleon
Kinyongia tavetana (Steindachner, 1891)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Kilimanjaro two-horned chamaeleon (Kinyongia tavetana)
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Open encyclopedia reference
Kinyongia tavetana, the Kilimanjaro two-horned chameleon or Kilimanjaro blade-horned chameleon, is a species of chameleon in the genus Kinyongia. It is native to forests, woodlands, well-wooded gardens and plantations in the highlands of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Its type locality is Mount Kilimanjaro, but it is also known from Chyulu Hills and Mount Meru to the Pare Mountains.
Wikipedia contributors, Kinyongia tavetana; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:24:57.065371+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Kinyongia tavetana (Steindachner, 1891)
- Name authority
- (Steindachner, 1891)
- Common name
- Kilimanjaro two-horned chamaeleon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Chamaeleonidae
- Genus
- Kinyongia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderIguania
- familyChamaeleonidae
- genusKinyongia
- speciesKinyongia tavetana (Steindachner, 1891)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Kinyongia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Fischer’s chameleonKinyongia fischeri (Reichenow, 1887) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Circular-scaled ChameleonKinyongia gyrolepis Greenbaum, Tolley, Joma & Kusamba, 2012 | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Magombera chameleonKinyongia magomberae Menegon, Tolley, Jones, Rovero, Marshall & Tilbury, 2009 | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| West Usambara two-horned chamaeleonKinyongia multituberculata (Nieden, 1913) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Matschie's Dwarf ChameleonKinyongia tenuis (Matschie, 1892) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Uluguru two-horned chamaeleonKinyongia uluguruensis (Loveridge, 1957) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Carpenter’s chameleonKinyongia carpenteri (Parker, 1929) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ituri chameleonKinyongia adolfifriderici (Sternfeld, 1912) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mount-Nyiro Bearded ChameleonKinyongia asheorum Nečas, Sindaco, Korený, Kopecná, Malonza & Modrý, 2009 | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Böhme’s two-horned chamaeleonKinyongia boehmei (Lutzmann & Nečas, 2002) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mt Kenya hornless chameleonKinyongia excubitor (Barbour, 1911) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Matschie’s two-horned chamaeleonKinyongia matschiei (Werner, 1895) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Chamaeleon tavetensis Steindachner, 1891 Steindachner, 1891 | synonym |
| Chamaeleo abbotti Stejneger, 1891 Stejneger, 1891 | synonym |
| Chamaeleon tavetanus Steindachner, 1891 Steindachner, 1891 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Kinyongia&species=tavetana Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3R886. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.