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Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
This butterfly is a new species for me, from Esquinas Rainforest Lodge: Whitened Eyed-Metalmark, Mesosemia zonalis (linked to iNaturalist Costa Rica with only 21 observations with mine making it 22). It is found from Honduras south to Columbia, but not seen frequently. My new Gallery: Whitened Eyed-Metalmark has only these three photos now. 🙂
This morning after breakfast I walked the maybe half mile down the road to La Gamba Rainforest Research Station sponsored mainly by the University of Vienna, Austria, hoping to see more butterflies! But only got one there plus one on the road near Esquinas Lodge which I will share later as part of Esquinas. 🙂
At the research station, I simply walked the garden trails, looking for nature to photograph and got quite a few photos in less than an hour. Here is a sampling of the photos in a gallery below the email photo with not everything identified yet. I have to go to the dining room for internet connection, but prepare these posts and the photos on my cabin porch during the afternoon rain, though it didn’t rain this afternoon, but will tonight! 🙂
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I’m getting my best help with identification through iNaturalist or through multiple channels with them. And I finally determined that this new Yellow for me is Westwood’s Yellow, Eurema westwoodii, linked to iNaturalist, but not much info there or anywhere else online about this species and it is not even included in BAMONA. I have a gallery for Westwood’s Yellow with just two observations, June 2 & 7 this year. The 2 photos here are from my June 7 observation.
is usually trying to hide behind leaves in the garden, but if I keep trying I usually get a shot, though there are much better ones in my GALLERY: Giant Butterfly Moth, Castniomera atymnius. All photos are either from my garden or the Esquinas Rainforest Lodge where I will be next week. Just one shot here . . .
¡Pura Vida!
is one of my “regulars” this year and varies in color from an Apricot orange color to the common yellow of all the other yellows! But, he/she always has lots of brown spots and usually the distinctive double white spots on folded wings (solid yellow on top). Here’s just two shots from this month, one yellow and one orangey. See more in my GALLERY: Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante.
¡Pura Vida!
This butterfly in the Swallowtail Family is one of the more brilliant and the only Cattleheart with two rows of pink (red) spots on the bottom of his hind wings. And note that this particular individual is damaged and has only one hind wing. You will find much better shots in my gallery: Pink-spotted Cattleheart, Parides photinus, and all but one photo are from my garden. 🙂 Found only from Costa Rica to Mexico.
A few days ago I shared a Mexican Silverspot and this one is different but similar, with the side view spots differently arranged and the top view totally different. Some more of the flying color found in Central America! See my GALLERY: Juno Longwing or Silverspot, Dione juno for more and better photos from Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
. . . for me at least, and for BAMONA, as I had to ask for the additional species, though there are lots (160) of observations on iNaturalist CR. This was of course in my garden, on the “Once de abril” or Golden Dewdrop flowering shrub (Duranta erecta). The butterfly is the Anius Metalmark (Charis anius), one of the tiny (thumbnail sized) Metalmarks. In addition to the iNat observations above you can find a little bit of info on iNaturalista Costa Rica. It is found from Honduras south to Brazil. No other information seems to be online nor in my books. I got only two shots before he disappeared.
¡Pura Vida!
The Red Cracker, Hamadryas amphinome (my gallery link) has an almost solid red underside of his lower wing, which I am yet to get a photo of. The only other place that I’ve seen this butterfly was on two different occasions at Xandari Resort, on a hill overlooking Alajuela (city) and the San Jose Airport. This shot was made in my garden on the trunk of the Cecropia Tree. I’ve only seen Crackers (all species) on trunks of trees, so maybe there is something in bark they eat? 🙂 And I’ve also only seen the topside of most.
¡Pura Vida!
And if Cracker butterflies interest you, check out my galleries on these 6 different species . . .
¡Pura Vida!
¡Pura Vida!