''Brookesia stumpffi'', also known as the plated leaf chameleon, is a species of

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, bein ...

found in some parts of Madagascar. It can be found in Nosy Bé, north-west Madagascar,

Nosy Komba Nosy Komba is a volcanic island off the north west coast of Madagascar, lying between Nosy Be Nosy Be (formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be) is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist re ...

, and Nosy Sakatia.

Taxonomy

''Brookesia stumpffi'' was originally described by

Oskar Boettger Oskar Boettger (german: Böttger; 31 March 1844 – 25 September 1910) was a German zoologist who was a native of Frankfurt am Main. He was an uncle of the noted malacologist Caesar Rudolf Boettger (1888–1976). From 1863 to 1866 he studied at ...

, a German

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, in 1894.

Etymology

The specific name, ''stumpffi'', is in honor of Anton Stumpff, who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

Geographic range and habitat

Glaw and Vences found ''B. stumpffi'' on small islands of Madagascar away from the main land mass of the country in 2007. The species can only be found in certain parts of Madagascar; it can be found in

Nosy Be Nosy Be (formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be) is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisional results of t ...

(sometimes known as Nosy Bé), north-western Madagascar,

, and Nosy Sakatia, and is common in the rainforest. ''Brookesia stumpffi'' can be found up to a height of above sea level, and can be found over an area of .

Conservation status

There are no known major threats to the ''Brookesia stumpffi'', and the species seems to be adaptable to "disturbed habitats". The species is sometimes kept as a pet and domesticated. The species is marked as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Description

''Brookesia stumpffi'' can grow to a total length (including tail) of up to , and has a life expectancy of at least three years.

Reproduction

During reproduction, the female ''B. stumpffi'' lays between three and five eggs, which hatch between 60 and 70 days later, provided they are at a temperature of .

Diet

''B. stumpffi'' feeds on insects such as crickets, fruit flies, cockroaches,

wax moth Waxworms are the caterpillar larvae of wax moths, which belong to the family Pyralidae (snout moths). Two closely related species are commercially bred – the lesser wax moth (''Achroia grisella'') and the greater wax moth (''Galleria m ...

s (waxworms), and grasshoppers.

Biology

During the day, the body temperature of ''B. stumpffi'' is between , and is during the night.