A new dwarf chameleon, genus Brookesia, from the Marojejy massif in northern Madagascar

Mark D Scherz,Jörn Köhler,Miguel Vences,Frank Glaw,Andolalao Rakotoarison

doi:10.3897/zse.95.32818

Abstract

We describe a new species of dwarf chameleon from theBrookesiaminimaspecies group.Brookesiatedisp. n.occurs above 1300 m above sea level on the Marojejy massif in northeastern Madagascar. It is genetically sister toB.peyrierasi, a species occurring in lowlands around the Baie de Antongil, but is genetically strongly divergent from that species in both nuclear (c-mos) and mitochondrial (16S, ND2) genes, and morphologically in its smaller size and distinctly different hemipenis. It is the second species of theB.minimaspecies group from Marojejy National Park, but is not known to occur in syntopy with the other species,B.karchei, due to elevational segregation.

Highlights

Chameleons, family Chamaeleonidae, are a highly diverse group of lizards, occurring across Africa and Madagascar, with a few species present in southern Europe and Asia (Tilbury 2018)
We describe a new species of dwarf chameleon from the Brookesia minima species group
While deep relationships among clades of the Brookesia minima clade could not be reliably resolved in our single-marker analyses, the Marojejy specimens were in each case placed sister to B. peyrierasi, with moderate to strong support from bootstrap analysis (ND2: 99%; 16S: 84%; c-mos: 99%)

Summary

Introduction

Chameleons, family Chamaeleonidae, are a highly diverse group of lizards, occurring across Africa and Madagascar, with a few species present in southern Europe and Asia (Tilbury 2018). Most members of the Brookesia minima species group are dramatically smaller than other Brookesia, and their diversity was long underappreciated because they are difficult to find and due to their miniaturisation and crypsis (Brygoo and Domergue 1975, Glaw et al 1999). The Brookesia minima species group includes some of the smallest amniotes in the world (Glaw et al 2012a; Villeneuve 2017). Scherz et al.: A new dwarf chameleon, genus Brookesia tributed across the northern half of Madagascar, with one species occurring in the Tsingy de Bemaraha Massif in the dry west (Schimmenti and Jesu 1996). In the present study we provide a formal taxonomic description of the new species, and provide genetic evidence for its close relationship to B. peyrierasi

Materials and methods

Results

Discussion