Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have heard that they are, and I have heard that they are subspecies of each other. I just bought some lat majors, and I do not plan at all on breeding them with my lat lats, but I have read that it does happen, that they cross breed. So I was just curious to know if they are really different species. Also, I have two clutch of "normal" lats in the incubator and they wont hatch for a couple months, but I cant find care of baby carpets anywhere. If anyone has any helpful hints (temps, lighting, what you raise them in) it would be greatly appriciated.

Necas lists them as a separate species but there is still controversy on this issue. The taxonomy is not agreed upon by all from what I've seen at least.

I truly believe they are different species. I have had both, and breed the smaller sub-species (species?) now (lateralis lateralis). I can tell you first hand that a cross-breeding does not produce fertile eggs-thankfully in my eyes. Perhaps others have had different experiences though. They are much different looking often times, not just in size. Even the babies appear to grow at different rates.

KS

Is that picture you have of a major? What I have been noticing is that majors are a rather slender cham compared to lat lats. The are often showing more reds, greens and blues than normal lats (atleast from the pictures I have seen, so this could be totally wrong). But incubation is the same right? and so is husbandry?

Individuals I've seen haven't really been more slender necessarily. The males are more slender than females in general, which tend to have a bulkier look to them. The picture is of a lat lat, not a major...it's a juvenile male. He is growing so he still has yet to fill out.

Husbandry would be about the same as far as I'm concerned. Make sure they are hydrated well. Majors reportedly come from slightly more arid regions than lat lats but hydration is just as important with them, and like any chameleon, they need lots of it.

Maybe Carl will comment. He knows far more about majors than I do, and has them as well.

Kevin

>>I have heard that they are, and I have heard that they are subspecies of each other.>>

At the current time "major" is just a morph of lateralis lateralis. Necas places "major" to full species status but Klaver and Bohme still consider it to be a morph. To my knowledge no one is currently working on the adjustment to either species or sub-species status.

Carl