Whilst birdwatching at the
bottom of the Raydah escarpment in the southwest of the Kingdom I came across a
very bright butterfly with orange-red upperwings but much paler underwings and
a distinctive white abdomen. The butterfly would settle and immediately close
its wings so I could only photograph the underwing. This butterfly turned out
to be a Doubleday’s Acraea Acraea doubledayi a butterfly in the
Nymphalidae family that are the largest family of butterflies with about 6,000
species distributed throughout most of the world. Many hold their colourful wings
flat when resting and are also called brush-footed butterflies or four-footed
butterflies, this is because they are known to stand on only four legs which
often have a brush-like set of hairs. Many species are brightly colored and
include the emperors, Monarch butterfly, admirals, tortoiseshells, and
fritillaries. However, the underwings are in contrast often dull or much paler,
producing a cryptic effect that helps the butterfly disappear into its
surroundings. The larvae feed on Adenia species a genus of flowering plants in
the passionflower family distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics.
The genus name Adenia comes from the Greek aden "gland", and is
inspired by the prominent leaf glands of most species. It is found in Sudan,
Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen with the subspecies azvaki found only in southwest Saudi
Arabia and Yemen.
