Dr Andrew Marshall, from the Environment Department at the University of York, discovered an undescribed chameleon species—Kinyongia magomberae—when he disturbed a twig snake feeding on a specimen, which was subsequently “spat out.” He took a picture of the unfortunate creature, and a local specialist did not recognize the species. More from the York Press:
The tiny lizard came out of the mouth of a twig snake disturbed by Dr Andrew Marshall in Tanzania’s Magombera forest.
Dr Marshall, from the University of York, was in the threatened forest surveying monkeys.
He said: “I was out there doing conservation research when I came across this snake. It saw me and fled, and as it did so it spat out a chameleon.
“I took photos and showed them to a local herpetologist, who instantly recognised that it was a new species.”
The creature, small enough to sit in the palm of a hand, was named as Kinyongia magomberae by scientists writing in the African Journal of Herpetology.
Shortly after the first discovery, a second Kinyongia chameleon was found by one of Dr Marshall’s colleagues about six miles away.
Unlike the first specimen, this one was very much alive.
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