Brookesia therezieni

CITES quotas
2011-13 each 100 specimens, 2014-24 each 500 specimens for legal export

First description:

Brygoo & Domergue, 1970

Origin of the species name:

Édouard-Raoul Brygoo (later working at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France) and Charles Antoine Domergue of the then Institut Pasteur in Antananarivo, Madagascar, named the species after the biologist Yves Thérézien. Jean Thiel had brought animals of the species from Andasibe to Institut Pasteur in Antananarivo for scientific research in 1967, but another leaf chameleon was already named after him. Thérézien later worked at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France, where Brygoo and Domergue later worked as well. He was mainly concerned with freshwater algae and fish and worked in various institutes on Madagascar from 1958 to 1966.

Distribution:

This small chameleon species is distributed in Madagascar’s eastern rainforests around Andasibe-Mantadia national park. We have found it successfully yet in the middle of the Vohimana reserve. Like all other leaf chameleons, the individuals of this species live in the forest litter, well hidden beneath the foliage or on small branches just above the soil.

Appearance & size:

This is a rather large leaf chameleon with a total length of 90 mm in males. Females reach a maximum of 68 mm. The ground colors of Brookesia therezieni are brown to beige, in general, they look similar to Brookesia superciliaris, but have a more heterogenous scalation. They also have a strong bone appendage above the eye and a point-like tubercle on the chin. To each side, there runs a series of ten or eleven spines that are – in contrast to B. superciliaris – continued on the tail. Some individuals have brighter areas on the belly.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average temperature	23	24	23	23	22	19	19	19	20	21	22	23
Minimum temperature	20	20	20	19	18	15	15	15	15	16	18	19
Maximum temperature	27	27	27	27	25	23	23	23	24	25	26	27
Rain days	27	24	26	19	17	18	21	20	15	16	20	25

We have collected the data given above over several years with thermometers and hygrometers at the finding places of the chameleons. "Average temperature" means that values of a whole month have been calculated to one average value per month. For example all measured minimum temperature values of February have been calculated to one average minimum temperature for February. In plain language, this means single peak values of a day may be a little higher or lower than the average minimum and maximum temperatures. It is possible that a location has an average maximum temperature of 29°C, but one day during that month it had 33°C or even 35°C there.

Three examples of a daily course of temperatures in Andasibe in the rainy season can be found below. Both were recorded with data loggers in 2023.

The region around Andasibe with the associated forests of Mantadia, Mitsinjo and Analamazaotra lie in the eastern highlands of Madagascar at altitudes between 900 and 1250 m above sea level. During the day, the temperature may sometimes exceed 25°C, but the thermometer rarely climbs above 30°C, or only in sunspots. At night, temperatures plummet, especially during the dry season. 10° to 15° degrees are the rule.

Humidity in the rainforests around Andasibe is high all year round. During the rainy season it rains extensively every day, sometimes the rain lasts for days. But the dry season is not massively different either, except that it has slightly cooler temperatures overall and reaches lower temperatures at night. It still rains at least every other day. Rain, high humidity and a drop in temperature at night are therefore the central points of Andasibe's climate. In 2023, we measured relative humidity with data loggers on different days in Andasibe in the rainy season, the data can be found below.

Tageszeit = day time, Sonne = sun, Halbschatten = half shade, Schatten = shade

We have measured UVB data with a Solarmeter 6.5 in spring (March, April) at the peak of activity of chameleons in Madagascar. We always measured the values that a chameleon could maximally reach in its habitat.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Morning	23,2	23,4	22,0	22,1	20,5	16,0	16,3	16,5	17,4	16,7	21,2	-
Midday	25,4	25,3	24,5	22,5	20,2	16,5	16,3	17,7	18,3	18,0	21,4	-
Evening	25,5	25,1	25,0	25,3	20,8	17,2	16,1	17,0	19,6	23,0	22,0	-

Between 21 March 2018 and 05 February 2019, we measured ground temperatures in the rainforest of Andasibe and surrounding areas (Analamazaotra, Andasibe, V.O.I.M.M.A. and Mitsinjo) about every other day - the table is the result of these measurements. Only in December no measurements were taken. detailed review can be found here. In total, we took 418 soil temperature measurements and measured an estimated 70 different locations in Andasibe and the surrounding area at a depth of 20 cm.

In 2023, in addition to other climate data, we also measured the air pressure at the locations we visited in Madagascar. The following data is from different days during the rainy season in Andasibe. On the X-axis is the time of day or night. In Madagascar, the day begins around 6 am, and night falls at 6 pm. The Y-axis shows the atmospheric pressure in hPa.

Habitat:

The following pictures show the habitat of Brookesia therezieni during the rainy season in Andasibe and Vohimana. The habitat is always moist with rich undergrowth, moss, ferns and lots of small bushes and plants. This species occurs only inside rainforests and avoid any secondary vegetation.

Below you will find some 360° images of rainforests in Analamazaotra that we took during the rainy season. If you click on the respective image, the pictures will open in an enlarged view in a separate window. You can use the mouse to rotate in all directions. You also have the option of running the images in full-screen mode. Have fun looking at them!