Indian migrant butterflies displaced to Arabia by monsoon storm ‘Aurora’ in August 1983

Abstract

Although many insect species are now thought to travel hundreds and even thousands of kilometres on the wind (Pedgley, 1982) only a few are butterflies. Three species for which there is reasonably convincing but circumstantial evidence are Danaus plexippus L. from the U.S.A. to the British Isles (Hurst, 1969), Hypolimnas bolina nerina (F.) from Australia to New Zealand (Tomlinson, 1973) and Nymphalis antiopa L. from northern Europe to the British Isles (Chalmers‐Hunt, 1977). In this paper we describe the sudden appearance of Indian butterflies in Arabia and provide evidence that they were windborne across the Arabian Sea.