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01 May 2016

Plain Tiger in Dammam – Record by Vinu Mathew

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.
Plain Tiger

Plain Tiger