THE RAJASTHAN TOAD-HEADED LIZARD, PHRYNOCEPHALUS-LAUNGWALAENSIS (REPTILIA, AGAMIDAE), REPRESENTS A NEW GENUS

New material of Phrynocephalus laungwalaensis is described in detail. This species shares many apomorphies with the other species assigned to Phrynocephalus but it lacks several characteristics of that genus: scleral ossicle number is not reduced to eleven or ten; an external ear opening is present; and the tail is not habitually raised and curled. Phrynocephalus laungwalaensis also differs from other Phrynocephalus in possessing a distinctive, very short tail. Because these differences would make the otherwise quite uniform genus Phrynocephalus heterogeneous, Phrynocephalus laungwalaensis is removed from it and given separate generic status. The recognition of this primitive sister taxon of Phrynocephalus provides evidence of how the external ear opening was lost in that genus and suggests its primitive habitat was soft sand.