Herps in the News: New Gecko Discovery

     While scanning the internet for herps in the news, I noticed an article on the BBC's website.  The article is titled: "Tiny Lizards Found in Madagascar."  Madagascar in general is such as interesting place to me, and I hope to visit someday, but "Tiny Lizards" is what caught my eye.  There are not very many lizards or geckos, or chameleons for that matter, in Ohio, which means we hardly get a chance to study them in our herpetology class here at Miami U, so I jumped at the chance to know more about these "Tiny Lizards." 

     This "Tiny Lizard" is a tiny chameleon that reaches a maximum length of about 29mm; it can fit on the tip of a match!  The chameleon is found in leaf litter during the day and climbs "up into the branches," a mere 4 inches, at night.   The researchers, led by Dr. Frank Glaw, found this tiny species at night, since it was easier to spot on the trees.  Its location is determined to be restricted to the small remote limestone islet around Madagascar it was found on, called Nosy Hara. 

     The surrounding islands of Madagascar are home to a variety of dwarf chameleons, but this specific species, Brookesia micra, was found to be genetically different from each of the other species.  As a result, it is believed to represent an extreme case of island dwarfism. Since, the small island allows for only a very restricted habitat for the tiny chameleon; just a single square kilometer, the amount of resources available is also limited.  So, this case of dwarfism has been thought to occur from many adaptations over an evolutionary time period due to this restricted habitat on the island.
     As being one of the world's smallest lizards, it is unique to the world, and should be protected.  The small habitat, however, makes it really sensitive to disturbances. Unfortunately, this sensitivity makes it very hard to avoid all the negative hits to the population, regardless of conservation efforts.  Luckily, the researchers understood the issues these species face, and decided that there needed to be more attention driven to these small endemic, or "micro-endemic," species.   Therefore, the researchers named the species with names that were designed to be thought-provoking for the future of the island's species.

Check out these tiny chameleons:




  

Brookesia micra is from Nosy Hara in northern Madagascar. (top) adult male on black background, showing orange tail coloration; (middle, D) habitat along a small creek on western flank of Nosy Hara, where part of the type series was collected; (middle) juvenile on finger tip; (bottom) map showing location of Nosy Hara, where Brookesia micra can be found, and the other islands and close relatives of Brookesia micra.


News article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17028940