Arabian Skittering Frog - Tanoumah

Whilst looking for Owls at night in Tanoumah in the Asir mountains of southwest Saudi Arabia Phil spotted a frog jumping across the road infront of the car. As we had cameras at the ready for any owl sightings we took some flash photographs of the amphibian. The Arabian Skittering Frog or Arabian Five-fingered Frog Euphlyctis ehrenbergii is a species of frog in the Dicroglossidae family found in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It has previously 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. 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.