Can you see it yet? Scientists discover world's teeniest tiniest chameleon!
Researchers have discovered a species of chameleon small enough to balance comfortably on the end of a match. At just under 30 mm in length, Brookesia micra, whose natural habitat is one of Madagascar's tiny peripheral islets called Nosy Hara, is now one of the smallest vertebrates ever discovered by scientists. The researchers, from Germany and the United Sates, also identified three other tiny lizard species living on the same island, as they noted in their study published in the journal PLoS ONE. Lead researcher Dr Frank Glaw from the Zoologische Staatssammlung München in Germany is an expert in dwarf chameleons; these new discoveries are the result of fieldwork carried out by him and his team at night during the wet season. By working at night, the team had a better chance of happening upon overlooked animals. During the daytime, these tiny lizards live under leaves in the undergrowth, but as darkness falls they climb through the leaves; this makes them easier to spot. And although these four new species may appear similar to the untrained eye, a genetic analysis carried out by the team confirms that they are indeed four very distinct species. The differences are such that the team can tell they separated from each other millions of years ago. One common feature all four of the new lizard species do share, though, is eyes that are extremely large for their tiny bodies. As the distribution of these four species is limited to very small areas on the remote limestone islet, the researchers suspect that these species may represent extreme cases of island dwarfism. Island dwarfism occurs when a species becomes smaller over time in order to adapt to a restricted habitat such as an island. This means that the main island of Madagascar likely produced the general group of dwarf chameleons and the very small island produced the tiny species. But their rarity could also be a threat to their future, and the fact they are so small in number represents the loss of habitat they have suffered already. The smaller a habitat a species is restricted to, the trickier it becomes to conserve it. At least two of the newly discovered species are in grave danger owing to deforestation. Dr Frank Glaw comments: 'The extreme miniaturisation of these dwarf reptiles might be accompanied by numerous specialisations 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.' To highlight the threat deforestation poses to these tiny lizards, the team got creative when naming them. One of the four species was named 'B. tristis', taking inspiration from the French word for sadness, 'tristesse': B. tristis was found living in a patch of forest close to an expanding city. How long before this diminishing piece of forest is swallowed up by creeping urbanisation? The research team was less subtle with its naming of another of the chameleons under threat: 'Brookesia desperata'.For more information, please visit:Zoologische Staatssammlung München:http://www.zsm.mwn.de/e/
Countries
Germany, United States