19 February 2022

Black-marked Orange Tip – Dhahran Al Janub

Whilst birding a roadside wadi near Haddadah, close to Dhahran Al Janub near the Yemen border I saw a number of the nominate subspecies of Black-marked Orange Tip Colotis daira daira which occurs in south-western Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman and is considered endemic to the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. The other subspecies are distributed in the northern dry zone of sub-Saharan Africa and in the Horn of Africa to Northern Kenya. The Black-marked orange tip, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. The habitat they prefer consists of dry savanna type vegetation where both sexes are attracted to flowers and the larvae feed on Capparis and Cadaba species.