The past week was marked by the arrival in the Maltese islands of a non-resident butterfly – the plain tiger or, as it is sometimes known, the African monarch.

The plain tiger is widespread and common in Africa and Asia, as well as on most of the islands of the south Pacific, and across much of Australia.

By butterfly standards, it is considered a medium-sized species, but compared to the other butterflies found in the Maltese islands, it is definitely large. It has a black body with many white spots. Anybody spotting this butterfly is more likely to see it flying or resting on a flower with its wings open, so one would see the tawny and black upper wings and, perhaps, the series of white spots on the hind wing.

There are no records of this butterfly ever having bred in the Maltese countryside

The plain tiger is highly migratory. It rarely used to visit Malta but nowadays it is being recorded with increasing frequency and in larger numbers. This could be due to this species expanding its range, possibly as a result of climate change.

There are no records of this butterfly ever having bred in the Maltese countryside, but this does not exclude the possibility that it could breed or even become a regular breeder in the future, especially if the food plant of its caterpillar, the milkweed, becomes more common.

In Maltese it is known as farfett ta’ danaus, clearly not a folk name but a name derived from its scientific name Danaus chrysippus.

This week’s bad weather might stop the arrival of more plain tigers but more might still arrive as soon as the weather changes. It would be very useful if readers would e-mail me the records of any plain tigers they may have seen or that they might see in the coming days and weeks.

portelli.paul@gmail.com