Sclerophrys arabica (Heyden, 1827)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Sclerophrys > Species: Sclerophrys arabica

Bufo arabicus Heyden, 1827, in Rüppel (ed.), Atlas Reise N. Afr., Zool, Bd. 3—Rept.: 20, pl. 5, f. 2. Type(s): Including animal illustrated in the original (pl. 5, fig. 1); SMF 3630 (formerly 1297r) designated lectotype by Mertens, 1967, Senckenb. Biol., 48(A): 40; Balletto, Cherchi, and Gasperetti, 1985, Fauna Saudi Arabia, 7: 345, regarded this specimen as holotype. Stöck, Günther, and Böhme, 2001, Zool. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden, 51: 261-262, reproduced the illustration of the type from the original publication and concluded that SMF 3630 is not the holotype nor a valid lectotype, but that SMF 3632 or 3633 might be legitimate types. Type locality: "Das petraeische Arabien"; considered (apparently in error) to be Sinai by Eiselt and Schmidtler, 1973, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 77: 194; Balletto, Cherchi, and Gasperetti, 1985, Fauna Saudi Arabia, 7: 354, discussed the type locality and suggested that the correct type locality is likely in southern Arabia (possibly Midyan).

Bufo pantherinus Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 88. Nomen nudum coined as a synonym of Bufo arabicus Rüppell and Bufo regularis Ruess. Synonymy with Bufo mauritanicus by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 557, presumably because Bufo pantherinus Duméril and Bibron, 1841, is a synonym of Bufo mauritanicus.

Bufo viridis var. orientalis Werner, 1896 "1895", Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 45: 20. Syntypes: NHMW 4919 (according to Gemel, Gassner, and Schweiger, 2019, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, Ser. B, 121: 47) and BMNH 1947.2.20.45-46 (formerly 1895.11.1.2-3) and BMH 1947.2.20. 47 (formerly 1880.11.10.104) according to museum records; BMNH 1947.2.20.45 (formerly 1895.11.1.2) designated lectotype by Balletto, Cherchi, and Gasperetti, 1985, Fauna Saudi Arabia, 7: 352. Type locality: "Maskat (Arabien)", Oman. Synonymy by Balletto, Cherchi, and Gasperetti, 1985, Fauna Saudi Arabia, 7: 352 (formerly considered a synonym of Bufo andersoni by Boulenger, 1885, Zool. Rec., 21: 40). 

Bufo orientalis — Parker, 1938, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 11, 1: 491; Parker, 1941, Exped. SW Arabia 1937–1938, 1, 1: 6; Schmidt, 1953, Fieldiana, Zool., 34: 255; Dubois, 1974, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 213: 351-352.

Bufo viridis arabicus — Mertens, 1967, Senckenb. Biol., 48(A): 40; Flindt and Hemmer, 1968, Senckenb. Biol., 49: 99-106; Schmidtler and Schmidtler, 1969, Salamandra, 5: 113-123; Tuck, 1971, Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 7: 50; based on specimens of Bufo oblongus according to Dubois, 1974, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 213: 350.

"Bufo" arabicus — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 363. Excluded from Bufo and unassigned to genus.

Amietophrynus arabicus — Portik and Papenfuss, 2015, BMC Evol. Biol., 15 (152): 1. 

Sclerophrys arabica — Ohler and Dubois, 2016, PeerJ, 4(e1553): 9. 

Common Names

Arabian Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 40).

Distribution

Northwestern (Tabuk Province) and north-central Saudi Arabia south along the western mountains south to Yemen; isolated population in northeastern Oman and adjacent United Arab Emirates.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

Comment

In the Bufo arabicus group (formerly the Bufo orientalis group as noted by Dubois and Ohler, 1999, J. South Asian Nat. Hist., 4: 133–180) of Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 160. In the Bufo viridis group of Inger, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 107. Tandy and Keith, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 160, provisionally regarded Bufo arabicus as a species distinct from Bufo viridis, in which synonymy it had been placed by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 545–574. Some subsequent authors (e.g., Inger, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 115, and Eiselt and Schmidtler, 1973, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, 77: 181–243), have not (but nevertheless as Bufo viridis orientalis). See discussion and account by Dubois, 1974, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 213: 351–352 (as Bufo orientalis) and (as Bufo arabicus) by Balletto, Cherchi, and Gasperetti, 1985, Fauna Saudi Arabia, 7: 345–355 (who provided the distribution noted above). See also Kete, 1992, Turkish J. Zool., 16: 60–70. Stöck, Günther, and Böhme, 2001, Zool. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden, 51: 260–261, discussed misapplications of the name Bufo arabicus to members of the Bufo viridis group in the Middle East and Iran. See account (as Bufo arabicus in the sense of including Bufo hadramautinus) by Schätti and Desvoignes, 1999, Herpetofauna S. Yemen and Sokotra: 31–32. Ba-Omar, Ambu-Saidi, Al-Bahry, and Al-Khayat, 2004, Zool. Middle East, 32: 47–55, reported (specimens from Oman) on embryonic and larval staging. Al-Qahtani and Al-Johany, 2018, Saudi J. Biol. Sci., 25: 1380–1386, discussed and mapped this species in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Alshammari and Ibnrahim, 2018, Adv. Bioresearch, Agra, 9: 165–177, reported on habitat and localities in the Ha'il Region of north-central Saudi Arabia. Aloufi, Amr, and Abu Baker, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28: 126, provided several records from Al-Madinah Al-Minawwarah Province, western Saudi Arabia, and discussed the range within that country. Hamdi and Fathy, 2021, Egypt. Acad. J. Biol. Sci. B. Zool., 13: 23–32, discussed presence and abundance in the Jizan region of extreme southwestern Saudi Arabia. Alatawi, 2024, Russ. J. Herpetol., 31: 39–46, discussed the range in Tabuk Province, northwestern Saudi Arabia. 

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