Most species seem readily distinguishable by morphological characteristics, but for some time the genus was used as a wastebin taxon for smaller chameleons from sub-Saharan Africa with plesiomorphic hemipenises.

[6] This has since been refuted,[7] but several more species seem recognizable judging from morphological[8] and mitochondrial 16S rRNA and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data.

Inhabiting a wide range of habitats, they are (for the genus) large, and have brilliant, predominantly green coloration and long tails - just as in many Chamaeleo.

[9] Another group of taxa occurs from easternmost Eastern Cape to central KwaZulu-Natal provinces, between Gilboa Forest and the Tugela River.

These inhabit a wide range of habitat and contain the plesiomorphic Natal Midlands dwarf chameleon from the namesake region, the small black-headed dwarf chameleon which inhabits fynbos and other low forest on slopes of mainly coastal KwaZulu-Natal, and another probable new species from the Gilboa Forest area.

These appear to be a quite recent radiation from a single ancestor, and the group requires more research as regards species limits, and geographical delimitation from the Drakensberg dwarf chameleon.

The small and nearly extinct Smith's dwarf chameleon is close to these; it occurs on the escarpment inland from Jeffreys Bay.

The Zululand dwarf chameleon from western uThungulu apparently consists of two or more species, one that may be closer to the preceding, and one that might be an early offshoot of the ancestral Drakensberg stock, and which are distinguishable by morphological and mtDNA characteristics.

Due to climate changes with fluctuating aridity, the basal lineages inhabiting humid fynbos in the southwest became isolated from each other and from the animals living around the border region between Northern and Eastern Cape and Free State, and Lesotho.