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Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Chamaeleonidae  
Oustalet's Chameleon
Furcifer oustaleti (Mocquard, 1894)
FUR-sih-fur — ooh-STAH-let-eye
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SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Native to Madagascar. It was introduced via the pet trade during the late 1990s and is established in Florida City, Miami-Dade County, Florida (Gillette et al., 2010, Reptiles & Amphibians 17: 248–249). It was subsequently introduced in Palm Beach County (Rochford et al., 2019, Furcifer oustaleti. Pages 359–361 in Krysko et al. (Editors) Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville, Florida). (Krysko, Kenneth and Travis W. Taggart. 2025. Established Exotic Species. Pages 64-87 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

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Open icons indicate questionable records, including those with coordinate uncertainty greater than 10,000 m (approximately 6 miles). Click a marker to view metadata.
Occurrences:; 79 Total; 74 Museum; 5 Other

The locality database contains 8,248,810 records, and geographic and taxonomic errors exist. Logged-in, registered users may report a potential issue directly from the marker popup.
Shaded range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH. (Version: 2025.03.31.07.51.14)
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Province/State Distribution:

Taxonomic Etymology:
A large chameleon Named for a 19th-century French zoologist.
Furcifer — From Latin furca, “fork,” and -fer, “bearing” — thus, “fork-bearer.” Refers to the chameleon's zygodactylous (split or “forked”) feet.
oustaleti — A patronym honoring Jean-Frédéric Émile Oustalet (1844–1905), a French zoologist known for his work on birds and reptiles.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.


Selected References:
1894 Mocquard, François. Reptiles nouveaux ou insuffisamment connus de Madagascar. C. R. sommaire Séances [New or insufficiently known reptiles from Madagascar. C. R. summary Sessions]. Bulletin de la Société Philomathique de Paris. Series 7. [Bulletin of the Philomathic Society of Paris. Series 7.] 1894(9):3-5

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