Trioceros melleri, with the common names Meller's chameleon and giant one-horned chameleon, is the largest species of chameleon from the African mainland (i.e. the largest of the chameleons not native to Madagascar).
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Trioceros melleri has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens13
BINs1
Marker genes11
eDNA detections3
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus3 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 99% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Diversity (π)0.61%
Haplotypes2
BIN1
Most divergent pair0.91%
Where individuals differ — all 6 variable positions, in barcode order
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5PCOIICOXIIICYTBND1ND2ND3ND4ND4LND5-0ND6
animal barcodemitochondrial
Organelle genome
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
07Deep time~19.3 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin19.3 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type103 records
Wild obs. + sensor87
Museum / vouchered16
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO252 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy67% within 1 km
≤100 m 27≤1 km 6≤10 km 7>10 km 9
49 georeferenced · 38 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor87
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy67% within 1 km
≤100 m 8≤10 km 1>10 km 3
12 georeferenced · 4 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence16
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions2 of 5 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Wuzhou, CN
8
CASlocation not on record
3
Universidad Católica de Manizaleslocation not on record
3
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
1
Geneva, CH
1
5 institutions · 16 of 16 vouchered records shown
09Environmental DNA3 detections
Where the DNA of Trioceros melleri was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found3
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 3 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation10 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility103 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics13 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗