Chameleons in the Ivohiboro Protected Area, Madagascar

New fieldwork from the Ivohiboro region in southeastern Madagascar adds important data to the earlier herpetofaunal study published two years ago. The protected area lies southwest of the southernmost slopes of the Andringitra Mountains. The forest itself covers about 8.6 square kilometers within a larger 37.8 square kilometer conservation zone surrounded by savanna. Elevation ranges from roughly 650 to 1460 meters. The site is managed jointly by local organizations and the Malagasy Ministry of Environment.

Surveys were carried out in 2016 and again in 2023. Researchers performed vertical tree surveys on 16 and 26 trees respectively. Each tree was climbed from the base to the crown, and every encountered animal was recorded. The ground around each tree was also searched within a ten‑meter radius. In both years, the rainy season arrived later than expected, leaving the habitat drier than ideal for amphibians and reptiles. Additional opportunistic observations were included in the dataset.

Across all surveys, researchers documented 22 amphibian species and 32 reptile species. Frogs were sampled for genetic analysis when possible.

Several chameleon species were recorded in Ivohiboro: Calumma andringitraense, Calumma crypticum, Calumma oshaughnessyi, a genetically unstudied population tentatively assigned to Calumma cf. fallax, Furcifer lateralis, and Palleon nasus. One notable pattern was that most Calumma species were consistently found high in the canopy rather than near the ground.

This work expands the understanding of the region's herpetofauna and highlights both the diversity of species present and the ecological importance of the forest fragments within the protected area.