List of butterflies of the United Arab Emirates explained

This is a list of butterflies of the United Arab Emirates. Over 50 species are known from the United Arab Emirates.^[1]

Papilionidae

Papilioninae

Papilionini

• Papilio machaon muetingi Seyer, 1976
• Papilio demoleus Linnaeus, 1758

Pieridae - whites and yellows

Subfamily-Pierinae

• Belenois aurota (Fabricius, 1793) caper white
• Colotis amata (Cramer, 1775) small salmon Arab
• Colotis danae (Klug, 1829) scarlet tip
• Colitis fausta (Olivier, 1804) salmon Arab
• Colitis liagore (Klug, 1829) desert orange tip
• Colitis phisadia (Godart, 1819) blue spotted Arab
• Euchloe transcaspica amseli (Gross & Ebert 1975) white desert black tip

• Euchloe belemia (Esper, 1800) green striped white
• Pieris krueperi (de Nicéville, 1883) Krueper's small white
• Pieris rapae (Le Cerf, 1913) small cabbage white
• Pontia glauconome (Klug, 1829) desert white

Sub-family Coliadinae - yellows and sulphurs

• Catopsilia florella (Fabricius, 1775) African emigrant
• Catopsilia pyranthe (Linnaeus, 1758) mottled emigrant
• Colias croceus (Geoffroy, 1785) clouded yellow
• Eurema hecabe solifera (Butler, 1875) common grass yellow

Nymphalidae - brush-footed butterflies

Sub-family Danainae

• Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758) plain tiger

Sub-family Nymphalinae

• Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764) diadem or danaid eggfly
• Junonia hierta Trimen, 1870 yellow pansy
• Junonia orithya Lang, 1884 blue pansy
• Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758) painted lady

Sub-family Satyrinae - browns

• Hipparchia parisatis (Kollar, 1849) white-edged rock brown
• Ypthima asterope (Klug, 1832) common three-ring
• Ypthima bolanica Marshall, 1882 Baluchi ringlet

Lycaenidae - blues

Sub-family Theclinae

• Apharitis acamas hypargyros (Butler, 1886) tawny silverline
• Apharitis myrmecophila (Dumont, 1922) desert silverline
• Deudorix livia barnetti Libert, 2005 pomegranate playboy
• Myrina silenus Stoneham, 1937 fig blue

Sub-family Polyommatinae

• Agrodiaetus loewii (Walker, 1870) Loew's blue
• Anthene amarah amarah (Guerin, 1847) leaden ciliate blue
• Azanus jesous (Guerin, 1847) African babul blue
• Azanus ubaldus (Stoll, [1782]) desert babul blue
• Brephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852) western pygmy blue
• Chilades galba (Lederer, 1855) Lederer's Cupid
• Chilades pandava (Horsfield, 1829) cycad Cupid or plains Cupid
• Chilades parrhasius (Fabricius, 1793) small Cupid
• Chilades trochylus (Freyer, 1845) grass jewel
• Euchrysops cnejus (Fabricius, 1793) gram blue
• Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus, 1767) pea blue
• Pseudophilotes vicrama (Christoph, 1887) eastern baton blue
• Tarucus balkanicus (Freyer, 1844) Balkan Pierrot
• Tarucus rosaceus (Austat, 1885) Mediterranean Pierrot
• Zizeeria karsandra (Moore, 1865) Asian grass blue
• Zizula hylax (Fabricius, 1775) tiny grass blue

Hesperiidae-skippers

Sub-family Coeliadinae

• Pyrrhiades anchises (Butler, 1861) giant skipper

Sub-family Pyriginae – grizzled skippers

• Gomalia elma (Trimen, 1862) African mallow skipper / marbled skipper
• Spialia colotes (de Jong, 1978) Transvaal grizzled skipper
• Spialia doris (Walker, 1870) desert grizzled skipper
• Spialia mafa (Trimen, 1870) Mafa grizzled skipper
• Spialia mangana (Rebel, 1899) Arabian grizzled skipper

• Spialia zebra (Higgins, 1924) zebra grizzled skipper

Sub-family Hesperiinae – grass skippers

• Gegenes nostrodamus (Fabricius, 1793) Mediterranean skipper
• Gegenes pumilio (Hoffmannsegg, 1804) pygmy skipper
• Pelopidas mathias (Fabricius, 1798) black-branded swift
• Pelopidas thrax (Hübner, 1821) white-branded swift

See also

• List of moths of the United Arab Emirates
• Wildlife of the United Arab Emirates

Notes and References

1. https://abdb-africa.org/locality/United%20Arab%20Emirates?oid=2 United Arab Emirates at the African Butterfly Database