Brookesia brygooi is a pygmy chameleon indigenous to western and southwestern Madagascar where it inhabits the grass and leaf litter of the rainforest floor. Total length does not exceed 4 inches. Little is known concerning its reproduction.
Brookesia brygooi has often been confused with B.ebenaui and B.legendrei and B.brygooi. B.ebenaui is the species often seen on pictures labeled as B.legendrei and B.legendrei is a junior synonym for B.ebenaui. Brygoo mistakenly attributed Brookesia found in south and southwest Madagascar to the species Brookesia ebenaui first described from the island of Nosy Be in 1880. B. brygooi (Fig 382) and B.ebenaui (Fig 182 and 381) in Glaw and Vences' "a Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar" are erroneously labeled because this book was published before Nussbaum and Raxworthy corrected Brygoo's mistake. B.ebenaui occurs in humid forests and secondary growth and is rather arboreal. B.brygooi is mainly found in fairly dry Tsingy habitat where it occupies moister micro habitats. It occurs in the Tsingy de Bemaraha alongside with B.perarmata.
Contributed by Olaf Pronk and E. Pollak
References
Klaver, C. & W. Boehme. 1997.
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Martin, J., 1992. Masters of Disguise: A Natural History of Chameleons. Facts On File, Inc., New York, NY.
Necas, P. 1999. Chameleons: Nature's Hidden
Jewels. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, FL.
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