The tiniest chameleon in the world is so small it can perch on a fingernail.

[Tiniest Chameleon Photo Credit: Toronto Sun]

With scientific name “Brookesia micra,” the world’s tiniest chameleon was discovered by American and German researchers in the island of Nosy Hara, just off the northern coast of Madagascar.

According to reports, the Brookesia Micra measures around 24 millimeters long, small enough to stand on the head of a match. The species was believed to have evolved through a phenomenon known as island dwarfism.

According to Frank Glaw, scientist at the Zoological State Collection in Munich, these chameleons was very difficult to find because they are very tiny and does not move very much.

Brookesia micra may be regarded as the world’s smallest lizard, but it’s not the smallest vertebrate. Holding this title is a frog from Papua New Guinea that measures about a third of an inch. The miniscule frog, Paedophryne amanuensis, broke the record held by a slightly larger-sized swamp-dwelling fish from Indonesia.

However, the title “World’s Smallest Vertebrate” is also being contested by the Philippines’ anglerfish that can be as small as a quarter of an inch. But this fish is a parasite, spending its adult life attached to the female of its species.