{"id":3545,"date":"2016-11-05T19:59:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-05T18:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madcham.de\/?p=3545"},"modified":"2025-03-06T14:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T13:24:47","slug":"brookesia-micra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madcham.de\/en\/brookesia-micra\/","title":{"rendered":"Brookesia micra"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n\t\tCITES quotas<\/strong>
\nNo legal export possible\t<\/div>\r\n\t\n

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First description:\"IUCN<\/a><\/h4>\n

Glaw, K\u00f6hler, Townsend, Vences 2012 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Origin of the species name:<\/h4>\n

Frank Glaw of the State Zoological Collection Munich (Germany), J\u00f6rn K\u00f6hler of the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt (Germany), Ted Townsend of the University of San Diego (USA) and Miguel Vences of the Zoological Institute of the TU Braunschweig (Germany) named the species according to its size after the Greek word mikros<\/em>, which translated means “tiny”.<\/p>\n

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Distribution:<\/h4>\n

Brookesia micra<\/em> occurs exclusively on the island of Nosy Hara in northern Madagascar. The island is about 3.2 km\u00b2 in size and consists mainly of karst rock, which covers the island in layers and resembles the Tsingys, and dry forest. The ground of the habitat of this leaf chameleon has an enormously stony underground, in between, there are trees and bushes. The microhabitat of Brookesia micra<\/em> is surprisingly much more humid than one would expect when looking at the rocky area. The animals are best found at the roots of certain large trees, where they live relatively close to the ground. Higher than 10 cm above the ground it cannot be found even at night when sleeping, whereby the animals prefer to sleep on blades of grass. The entire island of Nosy Hara is a national park in its own right, but visitors are scarce. This is mainly due to the fact that Nosy Hara can only be reached by boat and there is neither running water nor electricity. So every supply (water, food, cooking facilities) has to be taken to the island, which means a considerable logistical as well as financial effort in Madagascar.<\/p>\n

Appearance & size:<\/h4>\n

With a maximum total length of 3 cm from the nose to the tip of the tail as adults, Brookesia micra<\/em> is the second smallest of all chameleons. Thus it forms a group with other tiny leaf chameleons such as Brookesia tuberculata<\/em> or Brookesia karchei<\/em>, it is called the minima <\/em>group. Brookesia micra<\/em> has 11 or 12 spines along its dorsal crests, that do not continue on the tail. The head has only one enlarged tubercle. But the easiest way to distinguish Brookesia micra<\/em> from other species of the minima<\/em> group is to look at the tail: Adults wear a bright yellow to orange colored tail, that looks rather stumpy. Many adults have a beige colored broad line running from the head along the back.<\/p>\n

Good to know:<\/h4>\n

Brookesia micra<\/em> was not only the smallest known chameleon in the world but also the smallest reptile on earth until January 2021. With the description of the species Brookesia nana<\/em>, an even smaller chameleon from Madagascar took over the two titles.<\/p>\n

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