There has been a discovery of possibly the world’s tiniest reptile in Madagascar, the grande Ile. It is a Seed-sized chameleon, which scientists have tagged the nano-chameleon, named Brookesia nana (who gives these sort of names? – the Brookesia is probably derived from one of the scientist’s name), whose body is only 13.5 mm long. Excerpts below are from the Guardian. Enjoy!

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Scientists say they have discovered a sunflower-seed-sized subspecies of chameleon that may well be the smallest reptile on Earth.

Two of the miniature lizards, one male and one female, were discovered by a German-Madagascan expedition team in northern Madagascar.

The male Brookesia nana, or nano-chameleon, has a body that is only 13.5 mm (0.53 inches) long, making it the smallest of all the roughly 11,500 known species of reptiles, the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich said. Its total length from nose to tail is just under 22 mm (0.87 inch).

The female nano-chameleon is significantly larger, with an overall length of 29 mm, the research institute said, adding that the scientists were unable to find further specimens of the new subspecies “despite great effort”.

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