Blue Pansy – Salwa

Whilst birdwatching the Salwa area, near the Qatar border, I came across a Blue Pansy Butterfly Junonia orithya which is native to Africa as well as parts of Asia and Australia and is also called the Eyed Pansy in Africa and in Australia the Blue Argus. Butterflies belonging to the family Nymphalidae are few in Saudi Arabia although are quite conspicuous. They include Blue Pansy that is a migratory butterfly, and they appear sporadically, produce one or more local broods of offspring, and then disappear again until their next invasion. Their success in establishing themselves temporarily within the region depends very much upon their powers of adaptation and choice of larval food-plants. The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it. The upper side of the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eyespots. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with orange post-discal eyespots. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eyespots similarly placed as on the upper side. The butterfly was in a small set off allotments in an area I saw them in March. This set of allotments is very good for butterflies and plenty of Clouded Yellow were also flying around.

Blue Pansy - Salwa

Whilst birdwatching the Salwa area, near the Qatar border, I came across a Blue Pansy Butterfly Junonia orithya which is native to Africa as well as parts of Asia and Australia and is also called the Eyed Pansy in Africa and in Australia the Blue Argus. Butterflies belonging to the family Nymphalidae are few in number in Saudi Arabia although are quite conspicuous. They include Blue Pansy that is a migratory butterfly and they appear sporadically, produce one or more local broods of offspring, and then disappear again until their next invasion. Their success in establishing themselves temporarily within the region depends very much upon their powers of adaptation and choice of larval food-plants. The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it. The upperside of the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eye-spots. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with orange post-discal eye-spots. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eye-spots similarly placed as on the upperside.

Blue Pansy - Tanoumah

Whilst birdwatching the Tanoumah area I came across a Blue Pansy Butterfly Junonia orithyawhich is native to Africa as well as parts of Asia and Australia and is also called the Eyed Pansy in Africa and in Australia the Blue Argus. Butterflies belonging to the family Nymphalidae are few in number in Saudi Arabia although are quite conspicuous. They include Blue Pansy that is a migratory butterfly and they appear sporadically, produce one or more local broods of offspring, and then disappear again until their next invasion. Their success in establishing themselves temporarily within the region depends very much upon their powers of adaptation and choice of larval food-plants. The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it. The upperside of the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eye-spots. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with orange post-discal eye-spots. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eye-spots similarly placed as on the upperside. 

Blue Pansy in Dammam – Record by Vinu Mathew

Vinu Mathew found and photographed a Blue Pansy Junonia orithya in Dammam recently and kindly gave me permission to use his hpotos on my website two of which are shown below. The Blue Pansy Butterfly is native to Africa as well as parts of Asia and Australia. The Blue Pansy Butterfly is commonly called as the Blue Pansy in India, whereas in Africa it is called as the Eyed Pansy and in Australia the Blue Argus. The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it. The upperside of the forewing for the male is black to dark brown with a whitish sub-apical band, two orange and two blue bars in the cell, and two post-discal eye-spots. The hindwing of the male is brilliant blue with orange post-discal eye-spots. The female is similarly marked but with a much duller hue. Underneath, both sexes are grayish brown with cryptic orange/brown markings and have eye-spots similarly placed as on the upperside.

Blue Pansy – Bani Saad

Butterflies belonging to the family Nymphalidae are few in number of species in Saudi Arabia although are quite conspicuous. They include Blue Pansy Junonia orithya that is a migratory butterfly and they appear sporadically, produce one or more local broods of offspring, and then disappear again until their next invasion. Their success in establishing themselves temporarily within the region depends very much upon their powers of adaptation and choice of larval food-plants. Whilst birdwatching the Bani Saad area near Taif I came across a number of Blue Pansy butterflies although most were very worn and appeared to be at the end of the life cycle. Although obvious when their wings are outstretched, they are well camouflaged with folded wings.

Yellow Pansy at Al Mehfar Park - Thanoumah

This Yellow Pansy Butterfly Junonia hierta was photographed at Al Mehfar Park area of Tanoumah. The Yellow Pansy is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in the Paleotropics including Saudi Arabia where the subspecies Junonia hierta cebrene can be found in the drier parts of Africa and Arabia where it is usually seen in open scrub and grassland habitats. The male upperside is bright yellow. The costa of the forewing has a broad triangular jet-black projection downwards at the discocellulars, and the dorsum has a triangular projection upwards near the tornus; this black margin narrows near the middle of the termen and bears on the apex two short transverse preapical white streaks crossed by the black veins. The anterior half and the terminal margin of the hind wing is black, and the dorsum is broadly shaded with brown while the anterior black area has a large brilliant blue spot. The cilia of both fore and hind wings are white alternated with brown. The underside of the forewing is pale yellow. The cellis is crossed by three laterally black-margined orange-yellow bars, beyond that is a short, broad, irregular jet-black oblique band from costa to base of vein 4. The hind wing is greyish yellow, and in the dry-season its form is strongly irrorated with dusky scales. With a prominent transverse brown discal fascia, its margins are highly sinuous. There is a brownish broad shade on the middle of the termen and some obscure lunular marks on the basal area. The antennae is pale, and the head, thorax and abdomen are dark brownish black; beneath that is a dull ochraceous white. The female is similar, although the colours are duller. The cell of the upperside fore wing has a more or less complete transverse black fascia and another at the discocellulars. A blue-centred well-marked ocelli is in interspaces 2 and 5 on the disc of the fore wing, and smaller ocelli in interspaces 2 and 5 on the disc of the hind wing. The fore and hind wings have a fairly well defined pale subterminal line, though the blue spot on the anterior black area on the hind wing is small and ill defined; the rest is as the male. The underside is also as the male, but generally has heavier and more clearly defined markings. I thank Mansur Al Fahad for correcting the identification of the top photos. Mansur mentioned this was in fact a Blue Pansy and not a Yellow Pansy as I thought.

Blue Pansy

Yellow Pansy