PETRACOLA GEN. NOV.

Type species: Proctoporus ventrimaculatus Boulenger, 1900: 185.

Etymology: Petracola is a masculine word derived from Latin, meaning rock dweller. It refers to the fact that these lizards are usually found beneath rocks on the ground.

Definition: Tongue with imbricate, scale-like papillae. Head scales smooth without striations or rugosities: single frontonasal, frontal, and interparietal; paired frontoparietals and parietals; prefrontals absent; nostril pierced in a single nasal; nasals not in contact; supraoculars three or four. Eyelids developed, lower with a translucent disc, usually divided into multiple palpebral scales. Posterior gulars squarish. Limbs pentadactyl; digits clawed. Dorsal scales quadrangular, elongate, smooth, juxtaposed, forming transverse series only. Ventrals large, smooth, quadrangular, juxtaposed, forming regular longitudinal and transverse series. Femoral pores usually present in males and females, less than six per hind limb; preanal pores present or absent. Tail cylindrical.

Diagnosis: Petracola differs from members of Alopoglossinae by having its tongue covered in imbricate, scale-like papillae instead of oblique plicae (Harris, 1994), from Gymnophthalminae by having moveable eyelids, from Rhachisaurinae by having external ear openings, and from Ecpelopinae by lacking prefrontal scales. Within Cercosaurinae (sensu Castoe et al., 2004), Petracola differs from all genera except Pholidobolus, Proctoporus, and Riama by lacking prefrontal scales. Petracola differs from Proctoporus by having smooth dorsal scales, from Pholidobolus by having juxtaposed dorsal scales and from Riama by a combination of smooth dorsal scales and femoral pores per hind limb in both sexes less than six (exclusive of preanal pores).

Content: Petracola contains two species (Table 1).

Distribution: Petracola is only known to occur in the Huánuco, Piura, and Cajamarca Departments of central and northern Peru.