Bufoniceps laungwalaensis (SHARMA, 1978)
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Bufoniceps laungwalaensis
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| Higher Taxa | Agamidae (Agaminae), Sauria, Iguania, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Laungwala Long-headed Lizard, Rajasthan Toad-headed lizard |
| Synonym | Phrynocephalus laungwalaensis SHARMA 1978 Phrynocephalus laungwalensis — ZOOLOGICAL RECORD Bufoniceps laungwalaensis — ARNOLD 1992 Bufoniceps laungwalensis — DAS 1996: 43 Bufoniceps laungwalaensis — BARTS & WILMS 2003 Bufoniceps laungwalensis [sic] — MURTHY 2010: 108 Bufoniceps laungawalensis [sic] — MURTHY 2010: 109 Bufoniceps laungwalansis — DAS & DAS 2017: 29 (in error) |
| Distribution | India (Rajasthan Desert, Jaisalmer District), adjacent Pakistan (Sindh) Type locality: Laungwala, Jaisalmer District, Rajasthan, India. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZSI 23452, paratypes: ZSI 23453–61 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus). External ear opening present but extremely small. Tympanum well-developed but deeply set, largely covered by anterior slip of depressor mandibulae muscle; internal opening of middle ear fairly large. Head only slightly longer than wide; snout extremely short; no canthus rostralis; nostrils placed close together, high on snout and directed forward and upward. Body depressed with small and more or less homogeneous scales and no dorsal crest. Tail short (length less than two-thirds distance from snout to vent). No gular sac; femoral pores and preanal callose pads absent. Digits with fringes of flat, pointed scales that do not interlock. Osteology: No lachrymal bone; very large, wing-like process on prefrontal bone; infraorbital canal open above with palatine bone projecting only partly over it; quadrate bone not strongly concave posteriorly; lowermost part of anterior semicircular canal approaching quadrate process of pterygoid. No splenial bone; retroarticular process short. Eye with twelve scleral ossicles. Twenty-two presacral vertebrae; sternum with paired fontanelles; combined sternal and xiphisternal ribs number four or five on each side; 21 to 24 caudal vertebrae, the basal 13 to 15 bearing transverse processes. Similar genera: Most similar to Phrynocephalus Kaup,1825, but differs most obviously in possessing an external ear opening, twelve (not ten or eleven) scleral ossicles, and a very short tail without dark markings on the underside in either sex, that is not habitually raised and curled. Other agamids lack well-developed digital fringes of pointed scales, and do not have the combination of very large prefrontal process and very short snout with nostrils close together and directed forwards and upwards (from Arnold 1992: 468). |
| Comment | Type species: Phrynocephalus laungwalaensis SHARMA 1978 is the type species of the genus Bufoniceps ARNOLD 1992. |
| Etymology | named after the type locality. |
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