World’s Tiniest Chameleon Found in Madagascar

The world’s tiniest chameleon, the brookesia micra, has just been discovered in Madagascar. At just 24 millimetres long, including its tail, the brookesia micra is one of the smallest reptiles in the world.

According to the Toronto Sun, the tiny chameleon was found along with two other species of dwarf chameleons, the brookesia desperata and the brookesia tristis, by German and American researchers in the northern region of Madagascar. According to Frank Glaw, of the Zoologische Staatssammung in Munich, Germany, the African island is home to many of the world’s smallest creatures.

Glaw said:

“It is not accidental that the smallest species of a given taxonomic group often occur on islands. It is a typical and well-known phenomenon.”

Glaw led his research team on nighttime expeditions to find the tiny chameleons. The CS monitor reports that the small chameleons are active during the day but at night they rest up in the trees. Glaw said:

“They are sleeping and you can just pick them up. It’s like picking a strawberry, so it’s easy. They do not move at all at night.”

Glaw said that researchers would like to take a closer look at the dwarf chameleons on Madagascar but there is a more pressing matter at hand. Deforestation is threatening the survival of several species. Glaw said:

“The extreme miniaturization of these dwarf reptiles might be accompanied by numerous specializations of the body plan, and this constitutes a promising field for future research… But most urgent is to focus conservation efforts on these and other microendemic species in Madagascar which are heavily threatened by deforestation.”

The tiniest chameleon in the world can rest on the tip of a matchstick, but the Virgin Island dwarf gecko has it beat for the smallest reptile in the world.