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The article discusses a study conducted on the sympatry of Trioceros species of chameleons, including T. montium, T. pfefferi and T. q. quadricornis, in a tropical forest in Cameroon from February 15, 2011 to March 3, 2011. Topics discussed include recording of the position of specimens from different locations through global positioning system (GPS), smaller dietary niche segregation of T. pfefferi compared to T. montium and T. q. quadricornis and the observations of their syntopic occurrence.

The article focuses on a study that reviewed relationships among chameleons of the genus Trioceros in Cameroon on a molecular basis using mitochondrial genes and by morphology. The researchers found that phylogenetic analyses reveal only a single difference for the individual analysis of applied gene fragments from Trioceros oweni. They observed differences in interposed enlarged scales on flanks in number per line and in number of lines, and that males have a higher body length-tail ratio than females.

Null-model analysis of co-occurrence patterns is a powerful tool to identify ‘structure’ in community ecology data sets. We evaluated the community structure of chameleons in rainforest regions of Nigeria and Cameroon using available data in the literature, including peer-reviewed articles and unpublished environmental reports to industries. We performed Monte Carlo simulations (5000 iterations, using the sequential swap algorithm) under several model assumptions to derive co-occurrence patterns among species. Food and spatial (habitat) segregation patterns in both lowland rainforest and montane forest were investigated. We subjected four indices of co-occurrence patterns (C-ratio, number of checkerboard species pairs, number of species combinations, and V-score) to randomization procedures. Overall, the chameleon communities do not show random organization, but instead exhibit precise deterministic patterns. In lowland rainforest, chameleon communities are assembled deterministically along the food niche resource axis, but not along the habitat niche resource axis. The opposite holds for chameleon communities in montane rainforest. We predict that these patterns can be generalized to other regions of tropical Africa, thus helping to determine the general structure of chameleon communities in tropical African forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first data collected in situ on clutch and egg size for the Mountain Chameleon (Chamaeleo montium). In addition, we examine within and among clutch variation and its relationship with female body size. We caught wild females from January to June 2003 and held them until egg deposition. We collected morphometric data on females and clutches immediately post-egg deposition. Of the 49 reproductive females, the smallest measured 65 mm snout-vent length (SVL), the largest 90 mm SVL (mean = 75.4 mm). Clutch size varied from 3–12 (mean = 6.5) and mean relative clutch mass = 40%. Female post partum mass was positively correlated with clutch mass and egg number. Female mass (in grams) was not significantly related to relative clutch mass but was weakly correlated with egg volume. There was consistent size uniformity of eggs within and among clutches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]