BERLIN (AP) – It fits on a human fingertip, but this chameleon can make a big splash.
Scientists from Madagascar and Germany say a newly discovered species of chameleon could compete for the title of the smallest reptile in the world.
Frank Glaw, who was part of the international research team that classified the new species and called it Brookesia nana, said the body of the male sample was only 13.5 millimeters long (a little more than a 1/2 thumb). )
It is at least 1.5 millimeters smaller than the previous record holder, another member of the Brookesia family.
Glaw, a reptile expert at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich, said the small male and a slightly larger female were spotted by a local guide on a mountain slope during a 2012 expedition.
“You really have to get on your knees to find it,” Glaw told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “They are naturally camouflaged and move very slowly.”
Glaw and his colleagues did a CT scan of the female and discovered that it contained two eggs, confirming that it was an adult.
For the male, the researchers took a closer look at his ‘well-developed’ genitals, which occur in chameleons in pairs known as hemipene.
They found that the genitals of the Brookesia nana monster were almost one-fifth of its body size, possibly to mate it with the larger female.
“I doubt it’s a grown man,” Glaw said. “If we had a few, that would be better proof, of course.”
Confirming Brookesia nana as the smallest reptile species will require more of it, which could take several years, he said.
The team’s research was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Chameleons are threatened by deforestation in Madagascar, which is home to many species.
– The Associated Press