Miniature Chameleons Discovered—Fit on Match Tip

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Apache

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Don't know if this has been posted yet.

Match-tip tiny, Brookesia micra (juvenile pictured) is the smallest of four new chameleon species found on the African island country of Madagascar. With an average adult length of just over an inch (2.9 centimeters) from snout to tail, B. micra is among the tiniest reptiles in the world.

(Related: "Record-Breaking Chameleons Live Only a Few Months.")

Scientists think the diminutive new chameleon species might represent extreme cases of island dwarfism, whereby organisms shrink in size due to limited resources on islands.

"The extreme miniaturization of these dwarf reptiles might be accompanied by numerous specializations of the body plan, and this constitutes a promising field for future research," study leader Frank Glaw of Germany's Zoological State Collection said in a statement.
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Thats pretty cool :)

We found a standard chameleon in the garden the other day....
 
photoshopped!!

You don't get match sticks that big.


They are cute though I would put one on a Bonsai tree and make a Godzilla movie from it.
 
Cute, now we just need matching miniature flies for them to catch .. :D
 
Wonder who was stumbling through the jungle, swatting mozzies and suddenly "noticed" this reptile sitting on a leaf? Superhuman eyesight FTW?
 
copacetic said:
Ain't evolution grand?
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Oh it is!

Not sure if I'm understand the article right but is it as a consequence of man chopping up the island forests (reducing resources) or just that on an island there are limited resources thus causing the dwarfism?
 
tiniest-chameleon-found-match_48801_600x450.jpg


The beauty of creation :)
 
A friend of mine held one a while ago. Photo of it somewhere. Those things are tiny beyond words.
 
The tongue must be so small a fly would just grip it and beat the chameleon with his own tongue.
 
nakedpeanut said:
Oh it is!

Not sure if I'm understand the article right but is it as a consequence of man chopping up the island forests (reducing resources) or just that on an island there are limited resources thus causing the dwarfism?
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Its a consequence of isolation (and inbreeding) with a very small genetic pool.

I suppose these little bastards live off mites flea's and other little gagga's
 
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