Photos: Tiny Chameleons Discovered

 

Unmatched Among Chameleons?

 

    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.

  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.

 

Putting the Cute in Cuticle

 

 

   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.