Whilst birding the southwest of the Kingdom to the northeast of Jizan this month I saw a number of Yellow Splendour Colotis protomedia butterflies.This is a large species,
with a beautiful primrose yellow upperside, bordered with black. The veins on
the forewings are also black, as it the sub apical bar. They occur from
northeastern Nigeria and Cameroon, east to Sudan (and even the extreme north of
Egypt), Somalia, Saudi Arabia (southwest), Yemen, and south to the drier parts
of East Africa (northern Uganda, northern and eastern Kenya, and northern
Tanzania) covering in excess of 20,000 km2. The species is found mainly in dry
savannah habitats. Individuals of this species are attracted to flowers,
especially those of the larval host-plants, which comprise Maerua species and adults have a fast flight. The intricate underside of this large yellow butterfly make it one of the most beautiful of all species found in Saudi Arabia.
