I saw a number of Plain Tiger Danaus chrysippus in Al Khafah recently and managed to photograph
one shown below. 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.
