Whilst birdwatching a wadi in Wadi Thee Gazelle we found
a few pools of water with hundreds if not thousands of small frogs present as
well as other pools with tadpoles. The excellent rains of spring 2016 have made
many suitable pools for the frogs to breed which they have done in abundance.
This is the first time I have seen this frog in Saudi Arabia and they turned
out to be Arabian Skittering Frog or Arabian Five-fingered Frog Euphlyctis
ehrenbergii a species of frog in the Dicroglossidae family found in
Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It has previoulsy been treated as a subspecies of the
Skittering Frog Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis, but is now considered as a
valid species. The frog is restricted to areas of permanent and temporary water
in the Red Sea coastal region of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. An aquatic species, it
can also be present in irrigated area where it is extremely common or abundant.
It has an altitudinal range from sea level to 2,400 metres above sea level and
lays its eggs in water. The species may aestivate during the dry season,
meaning it spends the hot or dry period in a prolonged state of torpor or
dormancy.
