how do you tell what species of jacksons cham you have

[veiledman]

Does anyone know what differences the different species of jackson chams have? I want the big jacksonii but how do I tell if Im buying a smaller one of the subspecies? thanks

[tHeGiNo]

The two species are jacksonii merumontanus and jacksonii xantholophus, the Dwarf Jackson's Chameleon and Jackson's Chameleon respectively. The first different is size, where merumontanus is 3 - 4 inches SVL (6 - 8 inches total) and xantholophus are usually around the 5 inch mark SVL (8 - 10 inches total). You will notice that the sizes aren't of a great difference, so even then this may not be accurate, and they would have to be full grown adults. Another identification key is that the xantholophus tend to have darker parietal and dorsal crest scale pigmentation then that of the merumontanus. Aside from that, their may be some colour differences, however I am not fully aware of any so hopefully some of the more experienced chameleon keepers such as Carl C or Trace can contribute. There is also a third subspecies, jacksonii jacksonii, however they are not commonly found in captivity.

Your best bet is to purchase from a reputable source.

[DragnDrop]

Xanths are predominantly green/aqua with a bif of yellow, but not a lot. Merus are very colourful, lots of yellow, some even say neon orange. If you saw them side-by-side you'd see the difference just in colour, not to mention body size.

[tHeGiNo]

Thanks for the additional info Hilde, I thought there was a different in colouration but was not sure on the details. Are you working with the species?

[CarlC]

Jacksoni jacksoni is the nominate form. It is found only in Kenya. There have been very few imports of this form. I worked with a few pairs in the late 90's.

There are many similarities between j. jacksoni and
j. zantholophus. J. zantholophus is the newest of the sub-species. It is also found in Kenya but has been introduced to Hawaii. In j. jacksoni the females can have horns. The number of horns can vary from 0 to 3 and range in size from "nubs" to a full horn similar to j. zantholphus males. J. jacksoni is the most colorful of all the sub species with bright yellow, blues, greens, and rarely red tints. All of the j. zantholophus in the trade are from Hawaii. Kenya is closed to all exports.

J. merumontanun is the smallest and is hard to confuse from the other 2 sub-species. Besides size the horn structure is differant. In meru's the horn is thinner and almost always long. Females in this subspecies can have a single horn that points upwards or no horn at all. There are a couple of differant forms of meru's. The common form found in the trade is collected from the Meru district in Tanzania. The other form witch is larger in size and has much more yellow coloration is from a secret locale. This form has not entered the trade as of yet.

Hope this helps.

Carl

[frilledguy]

Thank you very very much, I am purchasing a pair from nareptiles and just wanted to know what I was getting when I saw them, you have all been very informal..........thanks very much, Ill post some pics when I get them!!!!