Newly Described Calumma pinocchio

Just a few days ago, a major taxonomic paper was published by a large team of authors — Glaw, Agne, Prötzel, Gehring, Köhler, Preick, Ratsoavina, Straube, Wollenberg Valero, Crottini & Vences (2025) — formally describing a new chameleon species: Calumma pinocchio. The discovery resolves a long-standing ambiguity surrounding Calumma gallus, originally described by Günther in 1877.

For decades, two distinct forms were observed under the name C. gallus: one with a serrated rostral appendage, and one with a smooth one. The new study combines molecular data and historical evidence to confirm that the serrated form is indeed the true C. gallus, while the smooth-snouted variant — far more frequently photographed and misidentified — is a cryptic, previously unrecognized species: Calumma pinocchio.

Interestingly, evidence of this distinction had been hanging unnoticed on this very site for months, quietly waiting for the scientific world to catch up.

Original post from www.chameleons.info indicating two separate forms within C. gallus