They discovered a new species of “nanochameleons”, …

An international team of researchers has confirmed the discovery of a nanocamaleón, the smallest reptile among some 11,500 species known to date. The animal, discovered in the north of the island of Madagascar (East Africa), is barely 13.5 mm.

“The male of the nanochameleon it is the smallest known among all the higher vertebrates “, Munich State Zoological Collection (ZSM) researcher and first author of the study, Frank Glaw, said in a statement. The new species has been named Brookesia babe, as published in the scientific journal Nature.

The female, on the other hand, is significantly larger, with a body length of 19 millimeters and an overall length of 29. According to scientists, at the moment, they have not been able to find more specimens of the new species, whose habitat is, according to their research, a few square kilometers.

“The island effect, according to which the species are smaller on the small islands, is not a convincing explanation for these mountain people,” said Fano-mezana Ratsoavina, a researcher at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar.

“Unfortunately, the habitat of the nanochameleon is heavily affected by deforestation, but the area has recently been placed under protection so that the species can survive,” added Oliver Hawlitschek, scientist from the Hamburg Center for Natural History, also involved. in the search.

An animal with large genitals for its small size

To determine the age of the specimens, the researchers analyzed their genitals. At that time, they discovered another special feature of the animal.

The team looked at hemipenes, which are duplicated in all lizards and snakes and, according to scientists, are often important features in distinguishing related species.

The experts then compared the length of their genitals to 51 other species of chameleons from Madagascar and discovered a tendency for smaller species of chameleons to have larger male genitals relative to body size.

In the case of the nanochameleon, its length was 18.5 percent of the body length, the fifth highest value of any chameleon species studied, and in the species B. tuberculata, which is also very small, genitals, they have come to be almost a third of the body’s length.

According to the researchers, this may be due to the difference in size between the sexes – the so-called sexual dimorphism – that in the case of larger chameleon species, males are generally much larger than females, while in the smaller species, the opposite occurs.

“As a result, extremely miniaturized males would need relatively larger genitalia to be able to mate with their females, which are considerably larger.”, explains Miguel Vences, from the Technical University of Braunschweig