Rhampholeon, commonly known as pygmy chameleons or African leaf chameleons, are a genus of small chameleon

Chameleon

Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...

s found in central East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

 (extending slightly into adjacent DR Congo). They are found in forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s, woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

s, thicket

Thicket

A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large amounts of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in the shelter of the maternal plants.In some conditions the...

s and savanna

Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...

, and most species are restricted to highlands. They are brown, grey or green, and typically seen at low levels in bushes, or on the ground among grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

 or leaf litter.

Taxonomy

Until recently, the members of the genus Rieppeleon

Rieppeleon

Rieppeleon is a genus of small, typically brown chameleons found in forests and savannas in central East Africa...

were commonly included in Rhampholeon instead.

• Rhampholeon acuminatus
• Rhampholeon beraduccii
• Boulenger's Pygmy Chameleon, Rhampholeon boulengeri
• Rhampholeon chapmanorum
• Marshall's Pygmy Chameleon
  Marshall's Pygmy Chameleon
  Marshall's Pygmy Chameleon is a species of chameleon which is found in the forests of Zimbabwe and Mozambique in Africa. It grows from 3.5 to 7.5 cm and feeds on insects. When standing still, it resembles a leaf on a branch....
  
  , Rhampholeon marshalli
• Rhampholeon moyeri
• Pitless Pygmy Chameleon, Rhampholeon nchisiensis
• Rhampholeon platyceps
  • Rhampholeon platyceps platyceps
  • Rhampholeon platyceps carri
• Spectral Pygmy Chameleon, Rhampholeon spectrum
  Rhampholeon spectrum
  The Spectral Pygmy Chameleon is one of the so-called "dwarf chameleons", aka "leaf chameleons", from mainland Africa....
  
  
• Rosette-Nosed Chameleon
  Rosette-Nosed Chameleon
  The Rosette-Nosed Chameleon is a small East African species, found in virgin forest and woodland of both the eastern and western Usambara Mountains...
  
  , Rhampholeon spinosus
• Usambara Pitted Pygmy Chameleon, Rhampholeon temporalis
• Uluguru Pygmy Chameleon, Rhampholeon uluguruensis
• Rhampholeon viridis