Well, obviously Panther Chameleon is derived from the species name pardalis. Back when this species was described (early/mid 1800s), the majority of classification was done by morphology and I'd tend to lean toward a morphological justification for the naming in this case. Generally, the name pardalis is given as an indication of the paterning of the species. Typically, this is with regard to spotting or blotching. Interestingly enough, the type locality of this species (the locality by which the specimen used to describe this species was collected) is Mauritius. Unfortunately, I don't know what the specimens on Mauritius look like so unfortunately, I can't comment much further than that I suspect it has to do with the paterning of specimens there.



Chris
-----
Chris Anderson

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[ Hide Replies ]

• Does anyone know why panthers - lele, Thu Jan 5 16:24:39 2006
• RE: Does anyone know why panthers - AnkInc, Thu Jan 5 21:15:34 2006
• RE: hey adam - chameleon76, Thu Jan 5 21:22:54 2006
• RE: hey adam - ankinc, Fri Jan 6 13:56:36 2006
• RE: Does anyone know why panthers - veiledbrian, Thu Jan 5 22:54:50 2006
• wouldn' t be due to the stripes would it? - safo, Fri Jan 6 00:36:54 2006
• RE: wouldn' t be due to the stripes would it? - lele, Fri Jan 6 10:04:48 2006
• Maybe.. - FEENIEE, Fri Jan 6 11:33:15 2006
• I defintly think . . . - nathan23, Sun Jan 8 11:27:14 2006
• RE: Does anyone know why panthers - JimFlaherty, Fri Jan 6 12:26:26 2006
• RE: Does anyone know why panthers - ChrisAnderson, Sun Jan 8 12:19:22 2006
• well, this made for an interesting thread! - lele, Mon Jan 9 16:29:42 2006
• what a cool lizard! - snowqueen4, Mon Jan 9 20:20:46 2006