Researchers have discovered a chameleon less than an inch long in northern Madagascar.
In a new study, herpetologists suggest that this “nano-chameleon” is the smallest known reptile in the world.
A male nano-chameleon is well-equipped: the genitals are almost 20% as long as the rest of his body.
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The smallest reptile in the world is a chameleon less than an inch long from the tip of the nose to the tail. It fits comfortably on a fingertip.
In a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers described finding a single male and female member of the new species nine years ago, nicknamed “the nano-chameleon”.
Take out the tail and the body of the nano-chameleon is still small – the male is less than half an inch (1.35 centimeters) long – ‘makes it the smallest known male of the approximately 11,500 known non-bird-like reptiles ‘, Frank Glaw, herpetologist at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology and co-author of the new study, said in a press release.
But the male nano-chameleon male, known as Brookesia nana, is not only unique because of its size, but according to the authors of the study, it is also well-equipped.
The genitals of the reptile are almost 20% as long as the body is, they found.
Exceptionally large genitals
The body of the Malagasy nano-chameleon male is less than half a centimeter long, researchers found.
Frank Glaw (SNSB / ZSM)
Male chameleons, such as snakes and other lizards, have an internal genitalia called a hemipenis. A few hemipenes are exposed when it’s time for chameleons, and the nano-chameleon’s hemipene is extraordinarily large, Glaw’s team found.
The researchers compared the sex size of the nano-chameleon with the other 51 chameleon species that live on Madagascar, and found that the animal had the fifth largest genitals on the island, relative to its body size. (They found one chameleon with about a third of his body size.)
The authors of the study said that male nano-chameleon males need such large genitals because they are smaller than their female counterparts.
The female nano-chameleon male they found measured about 1.1 centimeters from tip to tail.
“Extremely miniaturized males” need larger genitals to “successfully mate with the larger females,” Miguel Vences, another co-author of the study, said in a press release.
Little chameleons in danger
Researchers have documented other small chameleons in Madagascar, including Brookesia micra, a similar reptile that Glaw introduced to the world in 2012. (The new nano-chameleon pulls out Brookesia micra in honor of the smallest reptile by a few millimeters.)
Despite their best efforts, Glaw’s team was able to find only two nano-chameleons in the Sorata massif, a mountainous rainforest region on the north side of the island where they searched for new species.
Lowveld rainforest in northeastern Madagascar’s Masoala National Park.
Frank Vassen / Wikimedia Commons
Dwarf chameleon species like these usually have small habitat ranges; sometimes an entire species fits into an area of less than 10 acres in size.
The team predicts that each member of the nano-chameleon species will fit into an area smaller than 40 square kilometers. Given the estimate and the fact that the Sorata forests are declining in size, the authors suggest that the newly discovered reptile be designated as a critically endangered species.
“Unfortunately, the habitat of the nano-chameleon is under great pressure from deforestation under pressure, but the area was recently designated a protected area, and hopefully this will enable this little new chameleon to survive,” said Oliver Hawlitschek, a third study co-author, said in a press release.
