Brookesia stumpffi

First description:

Boettger, 1984

Origin of the species name:

The paleontologist Oskar Böttger, then curator of the Senckenberg Museum in Francfort (Germany), named the species after Anton Stumpff. Together with Carl Ebenau, General Representative of the German East African Society, Stumpff traveled in the 1880s, especially to the island of Nosy Be in Madagascar. Both collected numerous chameleons and sent them to Germany.

Distribution:

This species is a common leaf chameleon in western Madagascar, especially in the more northern dry forests, such as Ankarana national park, and some spiny forests in the hot south. But also rainforests like Amber Mountain, islands (Nosy Komba, Nosy Be, Nosy Sakatia) or simply secondary vegetation serves as habitat. Brookesia stumpffi lives on the ground and low vegetation. Rarely you can even find them climbing on trees. During the nighttime, they usually sleep knee-high on small branches in the shrubs, mostly vertically. They are bright-colored then and easy to find.

Appearance & size:

These animals grow up to 93 mm and are rather beige to light brown colored. Both sides wear nine to ten spiny scales that end in a suspicious pelvic shield. The tail has no spines. The bony appendage above the eye is more roundish and not very large compared to other species. In contrast to other leaf chameleons, the mouth and nose area seems to be a little longer.

Captivity:

Brookesia stumpffi has been bred for some years, although not in high amounts.

• Climate table
• More about climate
• UVB indices
• Soil temperatures

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	Mai	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average temperature	28	28	28	28	25	23	23	24	26	28	29	28
Minimum temperature	23	22	23	22	18	16	15	16	19	21	22	23
Maximum temperature	33	33	33	33	33	31	31	32	33	35	35	34
Rain days	16	12	6	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	9

The given data were measured and compiled by us within several years with thermo- and hygrometers directly at the finding places of the animals. "Average temperature" means that the values of an entire month were calculated to an average value, e.g. all measured minimum values of February were calculated to an average minimum value for February. This means in plain language that individual peak values of a day can be significantly higher or lower than the average minimum and maximum values. It is therefore possible that although the average maximum is 29 degrees, it was 33°C or even 35°C warm on some days of the month.

Ankify is a coastal town directly on the Mozambique Channel. The climate is warm all year round, only in the rainy season from October to April it gets a little warmer during the day. The temperatures reach over 25°C all year round and in the rainy season they often exceed 30°C.

At night it is only a few degrees colder, but a little wind on the coast makes the temperatures always bearable. During the rainy season the climate is very humid and it rains every day, in the dry season the climate is only moderately dry with still regular rainfall, but it is shorter and smaller.

The UVB data were measured with a Solarmeter 6.5 in spring (early April) at the highest activity time of the chameleons. The maximum values to be achieved by the chameleon in the habitat were measured.

Unfortunately there are no ground temperatures available for Ankify yet.

Habitat:

The following pictures show the habitat of Brookesia stumpffi at the end of the rainy season. Some are even from finding places of this species. Generally, this species has no high demands concerning specialized habitats, it can cope with various environments. In Ankify and Ambanja, this species occurs in the thick foliage layer of coffee and cocoa plantations. On Nosy Be, along the coast of Ankify and on Nosy Komba, they rather inhabit rocky environments with dense undergrowth and mossy soil areas. In contrast, the habitat in Ankarana has entwined undergrowth with lots of twigs and thin branches, much foliage, and small plants. The ground ist diffused with rocks and stones here, too.