Pictures: Miniature Chameleons Discovered

Unmatched Among Chameleons?
Photograph courtesy Frank Glaw
Match-tip tiny, Brookesia micra (juvenile pictured) is the smallest of four new chameleon species found on the African island country of Madagascar. With an average adult length of just over an inch (2.9 centimeters) from snout to tail, B. micra is among the tiniest reptiles in the world.
(Related: "Record-Breaking Chameleons Live Only a Few Months.")
Scientists think the diminutive new chameleon species might represent extreme cases of island dwarfism, whereby organisms shrink in size due to limited resources on islands.
"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," study leader Frank Glaw of Germany's Zoological State Collection said in a statement.
The new chameleon species study was published this week in the journal PLoS ONE.
—Ker Than
Published February 15, 2012
Putting the Cute in Cuticle
Photograph courtesy Frank Glaw
Scientists think Brookesia micra (juvenile pictured) might have achieved its small size through a "double" island dwarfism effect, in which the dwarf species Brookesia minima on the Madagascan resort island of Nosy Be found its way to an islet, Nosy Hara, where it shrank even further.
"In this scenario, Madagascar, as a large island, led to the evolution of the Brookesia minima group, whereas the ... islet Nosy Hara might have favored the extreme miniaturization found in Brookesia micra," the researchers write.
(See more chameleon pictures.)
Published February 15, 2012
Not Amused?
Photograph courtesy Frank Glaw
On Madagascar a member of the newly discovered chameleon species Brookesia desperata peers at a photographer through widely spaced eyes.
The small sizes of the four new chameleon species make them especially vulnerable to habitat destruction, and some of their names were chosen to reflect this. The latter part of B. desperata's name, for example, means "desperate" in Latin.
"Its habitat is in truth barely protected and subject to numerous human-induced environmental problems resulting in severe habitat destruction, thus threatening the survival of the species," the scientists write.
Another species was named B. tristis, or "sorrowful"—a reference to "the fact that the entire known range of this species suffers from severe deforestation and habitat destruction."
(Also see "Tarzan Chameleon Found in Tarzan Forest, Near Tarzanville.")
Published February 15, 2012
The Terror of Tiny Town
Photograph courtesy Frank Glaw
Although the four new chameleon species look very similar (B. micra pictured), genetic analyses suggest the reptiles are in fact different species, according to the new study, published Wednesday.
(Related: "World's Smallest Frog Found-Fly-Size Beast Is Tiniest Vertebrate.")
Published February 15, 2012
Steely Gaze
Photograph courtesy Jörn Köhler
Seemingly embodying her species' new name—B. confidens, or "confident"—a female chameleon stares down a camera lens. The nomenclature, though, has little to do with the reptile itself.
Scientists chose the name because—unlike some of the other newly discovered chameleon species—B. confidens's range is a well-protected nature preserve, and the animal's home is not in immediate danger of habitat destruction by humans.
(Also see "New Pit Viper Found—One of World's Smallest.")
Published February 15, 2012
Watch Your Step
Photograph courtesy Frank Glaw
The smallest of the newly discovered chameleon species, Brookesia micra, was found near this small creek on the islet of Nosy Hara in northern Madagascar.
Scientists think the lizards live in leaf litter on the ground during the day but move up into the trees at night to sleep.
More: "Catapults" Give Chameleon Tongues Superspeed, Study Says >>
Published February 15, 2012

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19 comments

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Ian M

Unfortunately the only thing i see coming from this discover is a new craze in developed natures for this miniature creature.

alireza a.

tanks god

Corey Bryant

Island drawfism seems logical.. Each generation is smaller and smaller because of lack of food and other resources, and somehow they hold on, just getting smaller..

Kamron J.

I find it fascinating that the creature this small maintains the structure of the large variety. Often such miniature scale seems to produce a different and less complex structure. Look at its complex eyes, skeletal structure and typical chameleon chromatophore. Basically as if a shrink ray existed.

charlie linebarger

There is a terrible double-edged danger here, first the forests of Madagascar are almost all gone and the mega fauna (think giant panda or African Elephant) that would have made the island famous, the elephant bird (that's right) and the giant lemur (as big as a gorilla and also a plant eater) have both been wiped out by the usual suspect since the dawn of the Christian era, in just the last 2000 years. Now we know where these little critters are we will try to protect some piece of land where they live and by the same token the international illegal wildlife syndicates will move in to catch every one they can by what ever methods work best no matter the cost to the critters' environment. From the inability of the island's government to protect anything there except its' own existence (recent coup) and the inability of the international community to protect things as big as rhinos, I think discovering and then publicizing the existence of these charmers was something akin to giving the species a death sentence.