Wee Malagasy Lad

Saturday-Sunday, January 25-26, 2025

Wee Malagasy Lad

Today’s special animal friend is the nano-chameleon, Brookesia nana. The male of this species, who is 13.5mm snout-to-vent (excluding the tail), may be the world’s smallest reptile. On the other hand, they might discover a smaller one next week. The female measures 19.2mm. These two are the only known specimens. They were collected in a degraded montane rainforest — sounds like a band! — by a Malagasy guide in 2012 and officially classified by an international team of researchers in January 2021.

Once again — is this a Madagascar-specific curse? — it appears I’m going to have to discuss male anatomy. The male Brookesia nana has some of the largest, relative to his body length, hemipenes — a bifurcated and sometimes frilly genital organ — in the reptile world. His are about 20% of the length of his body; scientists speculate that they have to be in order for him to mate with the much larger female. And they work: the one female found with the one male was determined by CT-scan to be gravid with two eggs. Minute examination of the hemipenes is about the only way to tell closely related species of reptiles apart. It’s a good thing there are graduate students. “You want that PhD or not?”

There are 31 officially described species of the Brookesia genus in Madagascar. The largest known Brookesia specimen is 30mm (around one inch) snout-to-vent. They eat tiny insects, which they zot with a well-aimed, long, sticky tongue. They are known as “brown leaf chameleons,” a common name which also includes other genera. This is because they look like dead leaves, a smart choice since they are usually found in leaf litter on the forest floor. Many species creep onto a grass blade or low shrubbery at night. This is when they are most likely to be spotted by sharp-eyed biologists.

Short YouTube video — “Brown leaf chameleon (Brookesia superciliaris)” — only viewable on YouTube.

Like other chameleons, they can change color ... from muddy brown to grayish brown, reddish brown, or brownish green. It is unusual to find Brookesia in the “degraded” — often burned-over — forest; they prefer undisturbed forest habitats. It is possible that there are lots of other Brookesia nana elsewhere in the leaf litter of Madagascar’s inaccessible and inhospitable forests.

Conservation status of many of these animals in uncertain because they are so hard to spot, but it is assumed they are all threatened, vulnerable, endangered, etc. because of habitat destruction or degradation. Brookesia perarmata is listed as Endangered and is on CITES Appendix I, allowing no collection or export from Madagascar. Many of the others are on Appendix II and can be collected and exported by permit. There is, *sigh*, a demand for them in the exotic pet trade.