Scientists from the Zoological State Collection of Munich have discovered the smallest reptile on the planet in Madagascar, discovering a new species of tiny brookesia chameleons “Brookesia nana”. A study by the German Zoological Research Institute has published Scientific Reports.
Researchers have photographed a reptile whose adult male body length is only thirteen and a half millimeters.
A group of herpetologists led by Frank Glau argues that this species is the smallest of all currently known bruquesia. Scientists caught two light brown reptiles, it turned out that they were a male and a female. Moreover, the male turned out to be smaller than the female, however, experts drew attention to the large size of his genitals relative to the body, the length of which is two and a half millimeters.
Brookesia live in those areas of Madagascar, where trees are actively burned and cut down for human needs. Scientists who discovered the reptiles suggested assigning them the status of a species on the verge of complete extinction.
In October 2020, the skeleton of an ichthyosaur that lived more than 240 million years ago was found on the Russky Island in Vladivostok. Participants of the Science in Travel. Primorye educational project discovered on the island a slab split after a typhoon, on which the traces of ribs and fragments of bones were clearly visible.