Brookesia micra at less than one inch is the smallest chameleon on record. Found in Madagascar, it’s also one of the smallest vertebrates on Earth. The Parson’s chameleon, also found in Madagascar, is the largest chameleon species on record. It can grow up to 27 inches long.
For nine years, Brookesia micra, a cousin of B. nana described in 2012, clung to the title of tiniest chameleon. B. nana is smaller than B. micra in body size, measured from snout to cloacal opening at the base of the tail. But it sports a longer tail. Differences in how size is determined make it complicated to definitively claim that a species is the planet’s littlest.
A branch of Brookesia chameleons exhibits extreme miniaturisation, leaving scientists scouring dictionaries for synonyms for small. There is already a Brookesia minima, so the researchers settled on nana, derived from the Latin word for dwarf. Glaw and his colleagues published their findings in a recent paper in Scientific Reports.
Credit : Mongabay
Picture Credit : Google
