Nov. 24, 2009 Dr Andrew Marshall, from the Environment
Department at the University of York, first spotted the animal
while surveying monkeys in the Magombera Forest when he
disturbed a twig snake eating one. The specimen was collected,
tested and compared to two others found by scientists in the
same area and has now been named Kinyongia magomberae (the
Magombera chameleon) in research published in the African
Journal of Herpetology. Dr Marshall is co-author of the study
alongside researchers from the Museo Tridentino di Scienze
Naturali, the South African National Biodiversity Institute,
Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Stellenbosch. He
said: "Discovering a new species is a rare event so to be
involved in the identification and naming of this animal is very
exciting. "Chameleon species tend to be focused in small areas
and, unfortunately, the habitat this one depends on, the
Magombera Forest, is under threat. Hopefully this discovery will
support efforts to provide this area and others like it