NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Carpet Chameleon
Furcifer lateralis (Gray, 1831)
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.
Antsirabe, MADAGASCAR Scanned Slide from 1998
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The carpet chameleon (Furcifer lateralis), also known as the jewel chameleon or white-lined chameleon, is a species of chameleon that is endemic to eastern Madagascar. It is a relatively small chameleon and especially females tend to have bright markings in many colours, whereas males are mostly green and whitish or green and yellowish.
Two populations formerly included in this species are now recognized as separate: the larger and less strongly coloured F. major from southern Madagascar, and the typically greenish (it is not generally found in a dark, blackish form) F. viridis from western and northern Madagascar.
Wikipedia contributors, Carpet chameleon; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:52:15.062816+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Furcifer lateralis (Gray, 1831)
- Name authority
- (Gray, 1831)
- Common name
- Carpet Chameleon
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Chamaeleonidae
- Genus
- Furcifer
- 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
- genusFurcifer
- speciesFurcifer lateralis (Gray, 1831)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Furcifer. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Furcifer polleni (Peters, 1874) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lesser ChameleonFurcifer minor (Günther, 1879) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Furcifer bifidus (Brongniart, 1800) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Green chameleonFurcifer viridis Florio, Ingram, Rakotondravony, Louis Jr & Raxworthy, 2012 | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhinoceros chameleonFurcifer rhinoceratus (Gray, 1845) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Campan’s chameleonFurcifer campani (Grandidier, 1872) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Timon’s chameleonFurcifer timoni Glaw, Köhler & Vences, 2009 | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Furcifer cephalolepis (Günther, 1880) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Labord’s chameleonFurcifer labordi (Grandidier, 1872) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Furcifer balteatus (Duméril & Bibron, 1851) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Wills’ chameleonFurcifer willsii (Günther, 1890) | ChamaeleonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Furcifer verrucosus (Cuvier, 1829) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Chamaeleo lateralis Gray, 1831 Gray, 1831 | synonym |
| Chamaeleo lambertoni Angel, 1921 Angel, 1921 | 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=Furcifer&species=lateralis 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:6K4Y9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.