''Brookesia thieli'', commonly also known as Domergue's leaf chameleon or Thiel's pygmy chameleon, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of lizard in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Chamaeleonidae. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to eastern

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, with a type locality of

Ambodimanga, Andapa Ambodimanga is a commune ( mg, kaominina) in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Andapa, which is part of the Sava Region. According to the 2001 census, the population of Ambodimanga was 6,893. The most important crops are rice and ...

. It was first described in 1969 by Édouard-Raoul Brygoo and

Charles Antoine Domergue Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

, and it was ranked 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 ...

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 ...

". ''B. thieli'' is thought to be found over an area of at above sea level.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''thieli'', is in honor of French botanist Jean Thiel, who is an expert on tropical forests.

Distribution and habitat

''B. thieli'' is found in eastern Madagascar, and its type locality is Ambodimanga, Madagascar. It can be found from Ranomafana (southwards) to Anjanaharibe-Sud (northwards), and the species has previously been found in Ambohitantely, Angavo-Anjozorobe, Analamazaotra, Mantadia, Marojejy, and Vohidrazana at elevations between

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It is believed to be found in around of land. Its preferred natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Reproduction

''B. thieli'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

Taxonomy

''Brookesia thieli'' was first described in 1969 by Brygoo and Domergue. The same species was also described as ''Brookesia antoetrae'' by Brygoo and Domergue in 1971. ''Brookesia antoetrae'' was synonymized with ''Brookesia thieli'' by Raxworthy and Nussbaum in 1995, but not all subsequent authors have accepted this conclusion.

Etymology

Distribution and habitat

Reproduction

Taxonomy

References

Further reading