Whilst birdwatching at the village at the
bottom of the Raydah escarpment in December I came across a good example of Doubleday’s
Acraea Acraea doubledayi. This butterfly is a member of 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, 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. Doubleday’s Acraea is found in Sudan, Uganda,
Ethiopia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen with the subspecies azvaki
found only in southwest Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
