Rieppeleon is a genus of small, typically brown chameleons found in forests and savannas in East Africa. Member species are found at low levels in bushes, or on the ground among grass or leaf litter.
Etymology The genus Rieppeleon was named after Swiss-born American herpetologist Olivier Rieppel (born 1951).Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Genus Rieppeleon, p. 221).
Taxonomy Until recently, the species in the genus Rieppeleon were commonly included in the genus Rhampholeon instead.
Species The following species are recognized as being valid. www.reptile-database.org. Image Scientific name Common name DistributionRieppeleon brachyurus beardless pygmy chameleon Malawi, Mozambique, and southeastern Tanzania.Rieppeleon brevicaudatus bearded pygmy chameleon eastern Usambara and Uluguru Mountains in northeastern Tanzania and KenyaRieppeleon kerstenii Kenya pygmy chameleon eastern Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and northeastern Tanzania
Nota bene: A binomial authority, or trinomial authority, in parentheses indicates that the species, or subspecies, was originally described in a genus other than Rieppeleon.
References
Further reading (Rieppeleon, new genus, p. 1973). Spawls S, Howell K, Hinkel H, Menegon M (2018). A Field Guide to East African Reptiles, Second Edition. London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury Wildlife. 624 pp. . (Genus Rieppeleon, p. 245).