Whilst birdwatching the bottom valley of
the Raydah Escarpment in the Asir Mountains of southwest Saudi Arabia, I came
across and photographed a White-spotted Pansy or White-spotted Commodore Precis
limnoria. This is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found in Saudi
Arabia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. The habitat consists of
savanna and thorn-bush country, especially rocky terrain. The subspecies seen
in Saudi Arabia is Precis limnoria limnoria and it also occurs in Yemen,
Ethiopia and Somalia. Torban Larsen Butterflies of Saudi Arabia says the
Arabian subspecies is Precis limnoria niveistictus and is unlike the African
subspecies that are extensively marked red.
