New Chameleon Species May Be World’s Smallest Reptile...

[kinyonga]

"The new chameleon, scientific name Brookesia nana was found in the rainforest of Madagascar"...
https://www.ecowatch.com/worlds-smallest-reptile-chameleon-species-2650277377.html

 

[LukeTheLizard]

Aww it’s adorable! It’s almost like a reptile bug!

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Also worth mentioning is this little dude has a world record for the largest penis to body size ratio.

 

[Shanar808]

That is amazing! It would a perfect Barbie dolls chameleon. I hope this tiny chameleon gets the wildlife protection it needs to keep from becoming extinct. The deforestation of Madagascar, and other rainforests around the world, is going to leave our future generations at a loss of soo many wonderful creatures.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

"The new chameleon, scientific name Brookesia nana was found in the rainforest of Madagascar"...
https://www.ecowatch.com/worlds-smallest-reptile-chameleon-species-2650277377.html

Sounded familiar. IIRC, we watched a video on it a few months ago.

The species was discovered by herpetologist Frank Glaw and other German researchers in 2012[1] in the rainforest on the Sorata massif in northern Madagascar. It is likely that the species is endangered due to deforestation in Madagascar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookesia_nana

Also worth mentioning is this little dude has a world record for the largest penis to body size ratio.

Doesn't have a penis—hemipenes. Kinda like overcompensating... in reverse.

I hope this tiny chameleon gets the wildlife protection it needs to keep from becoming extinct. The deforestation of Madagascar, and other rainforests around the world, is going to leave our future generations at a loss of soo many wonderful creatures.

We recommend that the extinction risk of this species be assessed officially for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as soon as possible.​

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-80955-1​

I just checked https://www.iucnredlist.org/fr/search?taxonomies=101349&searchType=species
It's not in the database yet—may be/probably(?) pending.

 

[kinyonga]

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nano-chameleon-contender-title-world-smallest.html

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nano-chameleon-contender-title-world-smallest.html

I'm a little foggy on the definition/distinction of "higher vertebrates".
The documentary I was (re-)watching the other night—THE CHAMELEONS OF MADAGASCAR
—mentioned something about one Brookesia being the smallest vertebrate—period (no "higher" mentioned). May have been an oversight.

 

[kinyonga]

Or more were discovered since?

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

IDK. We just watched it again, and I misremembered.
They didn't mention B. nana, and the one they were talking about was one of the smallest vertebrates.
Mea Culpa.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

If there were any day to remind me that big hemipenes nano chameleons are a thing, this would be the day.

Such cute and special little fellers.