The world's smallest chameleon has been discovered but not everything on its body is so tiny.?
The teeny Brookesia nana - or B. nana for short - is just 21.6 mm long, but its genitals account for around 18.5% of its body size when flexed, which may be why they have been given the nickname B. Nana.
The genitals of the lizard will normally remain sheathed and hidden, but it easily grows in size when it's in the mood.
A new animal research was published earlier this week in the journal Science Studies.
The chameleon has managed to evade scientists until recently because of its size and ability to camouflage, with the study's co-author Dr Mark D Scherz telling IFLScience,?"It takes a lot of patience and an eye for it. With practice, one can get relatively good at it, but we often work with local guides who are particular experts in finding these tiny chameleons as well."
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With the lizard found, researchers began to study them, and it was here they discovered that the genitals or hemipenes on males were 'surprisingly large'.
Why the lizards have such large parts is not really understood, but it is thought that it may be due to the size of the females being larger than the males - measuring 28.9 mm in length.
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Posting on Twitter Scherz wrote, ˇ®We know that Brookesia species have substantial sexual size dimorphism, with the males much smaller than females. The male in fact rides around on the female's back until she is ready to mate. So it makes sense that their genitals are limited in ways their bodies aren'tˇŻ.
However, the B. nana doesn't have the chameleon genital/body ratio record - that title goes to its close relative the Brookesia tuberculata.