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A medium-sized (adults 49 to 61 mm SVL) Phelsuma with slender form, head and body not strongly flattened dorsoventrally. In life, dorsal ground color green with reddish brown spots on body; throat white
and lacking dark chevrons. Median dorsal cleft in rostral scale; nostril above first supralabial, not in contact with rostral; smooth (unkeeled) scales on ventral surface of abdomen and tail;
dorsolateral scales much larger than dorsal scales, 68 to 76 scales around midbody; males with up to 27 femoral pores; subcaudal scales less than twice as wide as long. Phelsuma ravenala sp. nov. differs
from all other Phelsuma species by a combination of subcaudal scales less than twice as wide as long, ventral scales of abdomen smooth, body lacks a prominent black lateral line, SVL < 70 mm, enlarged
dorsolateral body scales compared to dorsal granules, 68 to 76 scales around midbody, dorsal coloration green, and throat coloration white without dark chevrons. Phelsuma ravenala sp. nov. is
phenetically most similar to P. dubia and P. hielscheri but can be distinguished by the lower number of scales around mid-body (68 to 76 versus 78 to 98), body color (green versus grayish or
greenish-blue, Fig. 5i, j), and the lower maximum number of femoral pores (27 versus 30 to 31). It also differs from P. hielscheri, two other similar species P. flavigularis, and P. berghofi by the form
of the scales on the ventral surface of the abdomen (smooth vs. keeled). It also differs from P. flavigularis and P. berghofi by color of the throat (white versus yellow) [from RAXWORTHY et al. 2007
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