Vinu Mathew found and photographed a Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus in Dammam recently and kindly sent me his photos
and allowed me to use them on my website. The Plain Tiger is a medium-sized
butterfly with a wingspan of about 7–8 centimetres. The body is black with many
white spots and the wings are tawny, the upper side brighter and richer than
the underside. The apical half of the forewing is black with a white band. The
hindwing has three black spots around the center. The hindwing has a thin
border of black enclosing a series of semicircular white spots. Background
color and extent of white on the forewings varies somewhat across the wide range;
see Systematics and taxonomy below. The male plain tiger is smaller than the
female, but more brightly colored. The range of the plain tiger extends from
Africa and southern Europe, eastwards via Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar to
China, Java and Sulawesi. The butterfly is distasteful to predators and therefore
flies slowly and leisurely, generally close to the ground and in a straight
line giving a would-be predator ample time to recognise and avoid attacking it.
