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. 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.
