Paul Kairouh 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. Paul mentioned the photo was taken with his 600mm lens and is a very
good photo of the species. 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. Background
color and extent of white on the forewings varies somewhat across the wide
range. They occur 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. They can be seen throughout Saudi Arabia but appear more
common in the southwest than the Eastern Province.
