title: Morphometric analysis of chameleon fossil fragments from the Early Pliocene of South Africa: a new piece of the chamaeleonid history.
abstract: The evolutionary history of chameleons has been predominantly studied through phylogenetic approaches as the fossil register of chameleons is limited and fragmented. The poor state of preservation of these fossils has moreover led to the origin of numerous nomen dubia, and the identification of many chameleon fossils remains uncertain. We here examine chameleon fossil fragments from the Early Pliocene Varswater formation, exposed at the locality of Langebaanweg "E" Quarry along the southwestern coast of South Africa. Our aim was to explore whether these fossil fragments could be assigned to extant genera. To do so, we used geometric morphometric approaches based on microtomographic imaging of extant chameleons as well as the fossil fragments themselves. Our study suggests that the fossils from this deposit most likely represent at least two different forms that may belong to different genera. Most fragments are phenotypically dissimilar from the South African endemic genus Bradypodion and are more similar to other chameleon genera such as Trioceros or Kinyongia. However, close phenetic similarities between some of the fragments and the Seychelles endemic Archaius or the Madagascan genus Furcifer suggest that some of these fragments may not contain enough genus-specific information to allow correct identification. Other fragments such as the parietal fragments appear to contain more genus-specific information, however. Although our data suggest that the fossil diversity of chameleons in South Africa was potentially greater than it is today, this remains to be verified based on other and more complete fragments.
authors.affiliation: UMR 7179 CNRS/MNHN, Département d'Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), 57 rue Cuvier, Case postale 55,75231, Paris Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Alexis Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Dollion
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cornette
authors.forename: Krystal A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Tolley
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boistel
authors.forename: Adelaïde
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Euriat
authors.forename: Elodie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boller
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Deano
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stynder
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Herrel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D005580:Fossils; D008116:Lizards / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013019:South Africa; D013045:Species Specificity