Whilst birding the Raydah Escarpment I found a number of African
Lime Butterfly in various sites including the farm at th bottom of the
escarpment and Wadi Jaw. The African Lime Butterfly is a common and widespread
Swallowtail Butterfly that gets its common name from its favoured host plant
but unlike most swallowtail butterflies, it does not have a prominent tail. It
is also known as the Common Lime Swallowtail, Lemon Butterfly, Lime Swallowtail
or Citrus Swallowtail. Apart from being tailless it has a wingspan 80–100 mm
and above, the background colour is black. A broad, irregular yellow band is
found on the wings above, which is broken in the case of the forewing and also
has a large number of irregular spots on the wing. The upper hindwing has a red
tornal spot with blue edging around it that can be seen on the second
photograph below. The Common Lime Swallowtail is perhaps the most widely
distributed swallowtail in the world and can be found in Oman, United Arab Emirates,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar eastwards to Austarlia and some Pacific
Ocean Islands. The widespread range indicates the butterfly's tolerance and
adaptation to diverse habitats where it is found in savannahs, fallow land,
gardens, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests and shows a preference for stream
and riverbeds. Six subspecies are recognised with Papilio demoleus demoleus
being the one seen in Saudi Arabia, which has a range across Asia from China to
the Arabian Peninsula.
