Tiniest Reptiles on Earth
By tony leather, 9th Apr 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsEnvironment
Once again the island of Madgascar has turned up some astounding new species of miniature chameleons
Tiniest Reptiles on Earth
Once again the island of Madgascar has turned up some astounding new species of miniature chameleons, which seem set to be included alongside a miniature snake - found on the island of Barbados - among the smallest reptiles currently existing on earth.
These tiny lizards measure much less than inch from head to tail, the juveniles small enough to stand on the head of a match, beating the previous lizard record holder - dubbed dwarf gecko - which ismuch longer at 1.3 in.
Smallest of these new chameleon species - the Brookesia Micra - is only found on the tiny islet of Nosy Hara, possibly a truly extreme example of island dwarfism, evolution causing numerous body plan specializations a promising field for future research by interested groups
Conservation efforts on all Madagascan micro-endemic species are vital because most are heavily threatened by deforestation on the island, but on Barbados there is also a truly tiny reptile in the shape of the Lesser Antillean Threadsnake, a mere 4 in long.
This smallest snake on earth - Leptotyphlops carlae - was found under a rock on Barbados, while on the nearby islands of St Lucia and Martinique, two more tiny snakes were found, by somebody called Blair Hedges.
This Penn State University evolutionary biologist determined the Barbados Threadsnake to be the tiniest out of over 3,100 known snakes species, primarily eating the tiny larvae of ants and termites, the female producing a single slender egg, producing a single hatchling half the size of the mother.
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