Embryonic and larval staging of the arabian toad, bufo arabicus (Amphibia: Bufonidae)

The development of Bufo arabicus, is described here from the zygote to the newly metamorphosed toadlet. The ontogeny of B. arabicus is arranged into successive stages numbered 1–45. These include the zygote (stage 1), cleavage (stages 2–6), blastula (stages 7–8), gastrulation (stages 9–11), the neurulation stages (stages 12–15), embryonic development (stages 16–23), larval period (stages 24–41), metamorphosis (stages 42–44) and the juvenile/toadlet (stage 45). The description of the developmental stages is based on the external morphological and physiological characteristics and is accompanied by photographs. The stages in the present table for the development of B. arabicus are compared with normal tables of the genus Bufo and other anuran species. The development of B. arabicus resembles very closely that of other Bufo spp. Minor differences can be seen between the different staging tables of different species because of variations in methods of staging and the criteria on which the table was based. One special feature is that B. arabicus hatches early (stage 15) compared to other reported bufonids.